You may have heard that Google Plus is a popular social media tool. It’s possible that you also heard G+ is one of the top “searched for” social networks out there. Well, this isn’t necessarily true. TechCrunch recently released some data that shows that Google Plus isn’t quite as popular as Google would like the world to think. In fact, Google Plus doesn’t come anywhere near being one of the top searched for social media networks – Twitter and Facebook beat G+ by a lot.

This information comes from the Google Insights for Search page. Once there, you’ll see that not only is Google Plus not a popular search term, but that people are searching for G+ less and less. What’s happening here? Why is Google Plus not taking off as much as it was supposed to? Have people tired of social networks or is something else at play here?

The Burnout

Even though Facebook gets a bad reputation for being somewhat sneaky, it can’t be said that Google is any better. Google has done some sneaky things in order to get social media users to visit the site and set up accounts. These things include making it mandatory for Gmail users to sign up for a G+ account, adding G+ buttons everywhere you look, and other similar tactics. It’s safe to say that people are already tired of Google Plus. Sure, the network enjoyed a bit of success when millions of users signed up for a G+ account right after the network’s launch, but people slowly began to move away from the networking throughout the past few months.

Google claims that the site has millions of members, and there’s nothing false about that statement. However, those millions of members are far from active. Many people signed up for a Google Plus account, played around for a few days, and never went back. Sure, the site has millions of members, but if those members aren’t active…does it really matter? I think not.

Will it Last?

The question now is: will Google Plus last? If the dwindling searches are any indication, there’s little hope that G+ will make that one year landmark. Then again, Google may just hang onto the site much like Research In Motion is hanging onto the PlayBook. Google wants to be part of the social network bunch, but it seems that the ranks have already been formed with Facebook at the top of the list.

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (to an extent) are the three social networks that people have grown to know and love. Each of these networks is distinctively different from the rest. One serves a general networking purpose, one is specifically for business people, and the other is a sort of fast news provider.

Where could a new network fit in? Google Plus would have to prove that it offers users something different, but the site isn’t standing out thus far. If you use Google Plus, you may have noticed that your stream has been slowing down lately (or never really took off to begin with). This trend may continue into the new year, and I’m betting that Google Plus doesn’t make it much longer.