When it comes to the social networking end game, the consensus is much the same as “Highlander” — there can be only one. The reason? Users want a single place to connect with all their friends. It’s just more convenient.
Yet when you look across the social networking landscape, there are a variety of thriving operators other than Facebook. For example, Twitter has been able to carve out a dominant position in microblogging, and LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) has built a strong professional network.
But these are really just niche plays in a massive market. The big question is whether it’s really possible to have another major player in the general-purpose social networking category. In other words, can a social networking Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) exist alongside a Pepsi-like (NYSE:PEP) counterpart?
It seems reasonable. In fact, there are some early signs that Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) G+ service might be a viable alternative.
According to a recent report from Experian Hitwise, it looks like Google+ has enjoyed an explosion in growth. Keep in mind that G+ only recently opened its services to everyone. But as a result, last week saw a 1,269% jump in visits to 15 million, making it the No. 8 most-visited social networking site.
Backing this up, Ancestry.com (NASDAQ:ACOM) founder Paul Allen crunched the numbers and believes Google+ has a user base of roughly 50 million, with a growth of about 2 million users per day.
It’s true that G+ still pales in comparison with Facebook, which had a whopping 1.7 billion visits last week and counts more than 750 million users. But Facebook still should be concerned. After all, its recent changes to its user interface have attracted lots of criticism and provided plenty of temptation to check out an alternative.
Google+ is a solid offering and has the benefit of integrating with other Google services like Gmail, YouTube and Photos. And yes, G+ should get a boost from the rapidly growing Android business.
However, Google+ must find ways to create strong engagement. To this end, there is the popular Hangouts service, which allows for multi-user video chats. G+ also is getting aggressive with adding games, including CityVille, Zynga Poker and Angry Birds. And consider that Google has a $100 million investment in Zynga.
Google seems to have the right strategy for developing a rival social network. And in light of the recent growth ramp, it could become a reality at lightning speed.
Tom Taulli is the author of “All About Short Selling” and “All About Commodities.” You can also find him at Twitter account @ttaulli. He does not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
