Google Plus – Innovators and Early Adopters
On June 28, 2011, Google+ launched with a limited, invitation-only beta. Now, nearly a month and half later and a less restrictive invitation policy, what does the data have to say about who’s using the nascent network?
The late Everett Rogers, in his book, Diffusion of Innovation, discusses the sequential adoption of new ideas or innovations, from innovators and early adopters to late majority and laggards. Using the Experian Hitwise sample of over 10mm Internet users in the U.S., combined with our New Mosaic segmentation system launched this summer, its possible to visualize the adoption of Google+.
Careful analysis of the Mosaic segments since launch; reveal that in just over six weeks, we’ve moved from innovators to early adopters to early mainstream users visiting the new social network.
Here’s a snapshot of top Mosaic types (by representation) that have been frequenting Google+.
From the graph above we can see that within three weeks of launch, the Mosaic type Colleges and Cafés (O53) peaks at a representation index of over 400 (members of this segment are more that four times more likely to have visited Google+ during the week ending July 16, 2011 then the Internet population overall).
We describe this Mosaic type as young singles and recent college graduates living in college communities. Here’s a word cloud of the key descriptors for Colleges and Cafés:
Its not uncommon for innovators to trial new services online and in some cases abandon those services when they lose interest. As of the writing of this post, for the week ending August 6, 2011, Colleges and Cafés have dropped to an index of 73 and now make-up only 0.3% of visits to Google+.
However, in this case, when innovators move on, several early adopter segments take their place. One of the predominant early adopter segments in the chart above is A03, Kids and Cabernet, described as “Prosperous, middle-aged married couples living child-focused lives in affluent suburbs.”
Here’s a word cloud of A03 descriptors:
Currently, Kids and Cabernet index at 268 in their visits to Google+, and make-up 2.9% of visits to the site. Interestingly, when we look at this segment’s stats for visits to Facebook, they index at a mere 68 and make up less than 0.7% of visits to the leading social network.
While Facebook maintains its position as social networking market leader, a number of New Mosaic segments under-index for visits to the top social networking site. As Google+ matures, watching the migration of these segments will provide an indication of whether Google+ will grow into a Facebook competitor or find its place as a niche social network for specific demographics.
Source: Experian Hitwise