Google+ at least did what Buzz and Orkut could not. It got off to an impressive start, made quite a bit of noise, and made Facebook look over its shoulder to see if this latest pursuer is legit. It achieved 25 million users in no time. But people started realizing that the biggest thing missing from Google+ is the one thing it truly needs to endure – critical mass.  Very few of the early adopters’ friends were on Google+.  To grow this new social network, at a minimum they’d need to double the time they put into Facebook.  And, they started asking the other big question Google+ needed to answer.  What glaring need is not being met by Facebook that is being met by Google+?

The only major difference I can see is that you can add people to your circles without their permission.  That might appeal to some people, but obviously not enough to make a real dent in the Facebook population.

So, now we come to games.  Games are one of the strongest drivers of traffic and stickiness on a website.  So, Google went after game creators hard.  The pitch?  “We’ll only keep 5% of your generated revenue when Facebook keeps 30%.”  Will it work?  Time will tell, but I don’t think so based on what I’ve seen so far.  They are getting a few of the major established game makers to place their games on Google+.  But show me a few major games that are only available on Google+, and I may start to believe in the strategy.

NetMarketShare reports on the huge drop in traffic driven from Google+.  It appears Google+ is headed for the same fate as both Buzz and Orkut (anyone still using either of them?).

Twitter is gifting its Promoted Tweets advertisers with wider distribution across the network, meaning you will start to see Promoted Tweets from brands you don’t follow starting Tuesday.

Google +1 buttons are becoming more ubiquitous thanks to an update that carries them over to the mobile web.

In a recent study released by comScore, searcher demographics showed some striking differences between those looking for Google+ vs. those looking for Facebook in July.

Social media is not ubiquitous. In fact, says a Pew Internet survey released on Friday, just half of U.S. adults are logged on to sites like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Facebook Credits are hot. More and more businesses — both large and small — are exploring how they can incorporate Facebook Credits into their overall social strategy.

Many businesses embed YouTube videos on their sites, but visitors can click through the video to YouTube and off the brand’s site. Enter Vidyard, which is launching today as an affordable way for businesses to host videos that can be viewed either on a landing page or via an embeddable player.

Google+ users may notice something new on top of their streams on Thursday — a small icon signifying that Google+ Games had gone live.

It wasn’t all that long ago when MySpace defined social media, and Facebook was this little know social niche site focused on college students. People really like exclusivity however, hence the invitation-only Google+. And, guess what – it appears to be working.

Small businesses don’t seem to be swept up in the social media revolution, according to a new study.

© 2011 SearchTerms.com