The days of the ghost town that once was Google+ appear to be over, as the platform saw record traffic levels in December, according to numbers from Experian Hitwise. As growth is expected to continue, this may be a sign that Google’s social network will become a viable marketing platform in 2012.
Experian found that Google+ had more than 49 million unique visits from users in the United States in December, which represented a 55 percent increase in traffic over the previous month.
The social network has been slow to develop a consistent user base and traffic. However, a series of gradual steps taken in the last few months have helped Google+ generate more interested.
In November, Google+ rolled out Pages, its service for businesses hoping to use the platform for social media marketing. Moreover, the release of its API allowed developers to begin integrating the website with third-party social applications.
Brafton also reported that Google+ recently announced it has surpassed the 62 million-user mark. Google’s Paul Allen made the initial announcement, which also included the company’s G+ user projection for 2012. Allen said he expects Google+ to surpass 400 million users by the end of the year based on its current growth rates.
