Google's latest stab at social media, Google+ , is officially a month old. And while the search giant has been able to coax more than 20 million users to register , some detractors are pointing to initial traffic figures that appear to show visits to the service's website have already peaked.
According to estimates released by Experian Hitwise, U.S. traffic to the Google+ site steadily increased during the first few weeks following the June 28 launch--hitting a high of 320,000 on both July 12 and 14.
Since then, however, visits have fallen; as recently as July 18, the site logged 240,000 users.
Weekly traffic to the site has also dipped, though not as steeply. Google+ had 1.79 million visits for the week ending July 23, down 3 percent compared to the previous week.
What's slightly more troubling for Google is that the numbers also show an apparent decline in engagement. According to Hitwise, the average visit, 5 minutes and 15 seconds for the week ending July 23, was down 10 percent over the previous week. The figures, by comparison, are puny compared to Facebook. Facebook's users spent, on average, 21 minutes and 57 seconds on the site last week.
But before you prematurely declare Google+ dead, remember: The social network is still in beta mode, and the downturn--whatever may lay behind it--is in visits, not users. Google+ managed to corral 20 million accounts in its first month, including 10 million in just over two weeks--meaning that the overall climb in adoption is steady.
"Now comes the hard part," MG Siegler wrote on TechCrunch.com . "Keeping those users around and engaged."
Also worth noting: Google has yet to allow businesses to create "+" pages, something Facebook has found success with in promoting sustained engagement with its social-media site.
Nonetheless, John Paul Titlow wrote in a post on ReadWriteWeb.com , Google+ is "already showing signs of promise to online marketers, especially in its ability to drive traffic to other websites."
Siegler added: "The new car smell is wearing off. And it's time for reality. Google gave users a compelling reason to sign up, now they need to provide a compelling reason for coming back."
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