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Google doubles Plus membership with brute-force signup process

Google CEO Larry Page trotted out an impressive statistic during last week’s quarterly earnings call: Google+ now has 90 million users, double what it had three months ago. Even better, 60 percent of those users are engaged daily, and 80 percent weekly.

But those users aren’t necessarily engaging with Google+. Any action taken during a logged-in Google session—whether it be searching the Internet, checking Gmail or using Google Docs—counts as engagement under the statistic Page used. Google has refused requests from journalists and interested bystanders to reveal exactly what percentage of those 90 million signed-up Google+ users actually view Plus content each day, week or month. Instead, Google is arguing that it doesn’t matter: Google+ is so integrated into the overall experience that what matters is the number of users interacting with any Google site. Combined with other steps Google has taken to integrate Plus into search results and other Google properties, the message is clear: Eventually, Google Plus will just be there whether you want it to or not.

Facebook has 800 million active users, and 50 percent of them log in each day, an impressive feat given that Facebook is really just one site (albeit one with hooks into many other websites). Given the vast number of services Google offers, and the simple fact that Google performs a large majority of Internet searches, it’s not surprising that most Plus users interact with Google sites each day. It would be hard for them not to.

Still, 90 million people signing up for a service in just over six months is a big number, a quite impressive one if it was all due to organic growth—people consciously deciding to create a Google+ account and use the site in the same way they’ve done with Facebook and Twitter. But it turns out the act of creating a Google+ account is often just an incidental byproduct of signing up for other Google services.

On Friday, the Google Operating System blog (not affiliated with Google) wrote a post titled “New Google Accounts Require Gmail and Google+.” While this isn’t strictly true, the blog demonstrates how Google is making it difficult for new users not to sign up for Google+.

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Google revenue down, Android can help

Google’s revenue was lower than expected during the final quarter of 2011, but some of the company’s other initiatives continue to grow and show promise. One of those initiatives is Android, Google’s mobile operating system that’s become a global, unstoppable force. Google CEO Larry Page revealed that over 250 million Android devices have been activated worldwide, with more than 11 billion apps downloaded from the Android Market. That’s an increase of 50 million activations since November, and just weeks after Google celebrated 10 billion app downloads in December with a 10-day sale.

Though Google delivered some of their first disappointing quarterly results in a while, with ad prices and shares dropping in a weakened market, the company looks to outlets like Android and Google+ to grow and maintain dominance in mobile and personalized search. Google reported net revenues of $8.13 billion, less than Wells Fargo’s pessimistic prediction of $8.31 billion. Google’s per-click rate is down 8 percent, and the amount Google pays to its partners to acquire this traffic is up 18 percent. Some say Google’s push for improved searches has affected its cost-per-click numbers.

Lawsuits are telling of Android’s true costs

One thing we don’t get to hear during Google’s earnings call is Android revenue, though a recent report from Oracle offers some insight as to the value behind Google’s mobile ecosystem. Android could be worth $10 million annually in mobile ad revenues, totaling $3.65 billion a year overall, according to Oracle. The figures come from Oracle’s latest submission to the court in conjunction with its ongoing lawsuit against Google. That’s not including direct revenues earned from the Android Market. And without Google revealing any numbers itself, there’s no way to fully confirm Oracle’s figures, especially since they’re not saying how they reached this conclusion either. However, free and open source software advocate Florian Muller guesses that Oracle’s assuming $14 of ad revenue per Android user, per year.
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Google+ steps toward web domination with automated signups for new Google accounts

Google, as it has long promised, is taking another step toward unifying all its web products under the Google+ umbrella by making Google+ a big part of signing up for a new Google account.

Today, the astute webmonkeys over at the Google Operating System unofficial blog noted that joining Google+ was automatically included with starting a new Google account.

However, this feature has been rolling out since last November, a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.

“We hadn’t changed our Google Accounts sign-up flow in more than seven years, so it was due for a refresh,” the rep continued.

In an official statement, Google said, “We’re working to develop a consistent sign-up flow across our different products as part of our efforts to create an intuitive, beautifully simple, Google-wide user experience. Making it quick and easy to create a Google Account and a Google+ profile enables new users to take advantage of everything Google can offer.”

Our Google contact continued to say that if a new Google user wants to delete his or her Google+ profile, he or she can do so any time from the Account Settings page.

Last November, around the time the Google+ signup automation started rolling out, we chatted at length with Google exec Bradley Horowitz, who told us the company needed a way to unify all its various web products, from email to maps to videos and beyond. The current multi-account system was confusing and inelegant, to say the least.

“We think of Google+ as a mode of usage of Google, a way of lighting up your Google experience as opposed to a new product,” Horowitz said at the time.

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