V3 readers back Google+ as active users hit 20 million

Google's latest foray into social networking received a boost on Friday after 62 per cent of V3 readers gave the Google+ platform the thumbs up, while comScore reported that the service has amassed 20 million users in just three weeks.

Our V3 Google+ poll asked readers whether they were planning to join Google+, which was launched to much fanfare at the end of June.

Some 62 per cent said that the social network looks like an interesting alternative to Facebook and other sites of its kind, while just 13 per cent said they prefer Twitter and Facebook.

Google+ has generally been well received by the critics since its release, and has tried to differentiate by allowing users to group friends into specific Circles, with which they then interact.

The site got another boost on Thursday when comScore reported that it had reached the 20 million unique user mark in only three weeks, although it still has some way to go to top Facebook's 750 million users.

These figures are doubly impressive considering the problems many people had getting an invitation to the service. Google has said that the site is still in "field trial" mode, and that access is intermittent.

In fact, a quarter of V3 readers said that they had not yet received an invitation to join at the time of writing.

Interestingly, only one per cent are waiting to sign up to the business edition of Google+, suggesting that the company may struggle to generate interest in the forthcoming service.

Google has already launched a limited trial of Google+ for business, and an official launch is scheduled for later this year.

The corporate version will include features such as "rich analytics and the ability to connect an identity to other parts of Google that businesses might use on a daily basis like AdWords", according to Google+ product manager Christian Oestlien.

He also warned businesses trying to use regular profiles on the consumer version of the site that they will be shut down.