Google+ has third biggest week since start

Social networking site Google+ recorded its third biggest week last week, with more than 6.8 million total U.S. visits, according to Hitwise.

The site launched last summer to an invite-only crowd. Its previous top two weeks were the week ending Sept. 24, when Google+ opened to all users, and the week after that.

Why the sudden boon? Mashable points to Google's recent introduction of "brand" pages on Google+ — which lets companies have their own pages, just as they do on Facebook — well as the continuing addition of features, such as letting users rate images +1.

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Google+ has had its ups and downs since it began. But recent signs are definitely on the "plus" side.

Hitwise director of research Heather Dougherty, on the company's blog, points to a few factors: Google+ "benefits from other Google properties for referral traffic. Among the top ten referral sources, eight are Google properties and accounted for 73 percent off all upstream traffic last week, up from 65 percent during the peak week of Sept. 24."

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As "another positive sign," she cites the increasing number of returning visitors to Google+. "The average of the first two weeks of November versus the same time in October shows the share of returning visitors to the Google+ site increased 18 percent. Last week, 74 percent of the traffic to Google+ was from returning visitors, suggesting that Google+ users are returning to interact and engage with their networks (aka circles)."

Is Google+ starting to run "circles" around Facebook? What do you think? Let us know by voting in our poll.

Related stories:

• Google now lets you rate images +1
• Google opens up social network to businesses
• Google+ opens up, traffic rockets 1,200+ percent
• Google+ attracts 25 million visitors

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