Google+ might have topped 10m users in just 10 days

It has an awful long way to go before it gets close to rivalling Facebook, but Google+ could already have 10 million members, even though it is still in its testing phase.

The search giant's previous attempts to muscle in on the social networking scene - Google Wave and Google Buzz - fell on stony ground, but it appears the company has hit the jackpot with the launch of its latest product 10 days ago. Google+ has been hailed as a potential challenger to Mark Zuckerberg's mammoth Facebook operation, which has 750 million members.

Now Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com, has claimed that Google+ could have attracted 10 million users in less than two weeks. He explained his calculations in a post on his site. "By using a sample of 100-200 surnames, I am able to accurately estimate the total percentage of the US population that has signed up for Google+. Then I use that number and a calculated ratio of US to non-US users to generate my worldwide estimates," he wrote, according to the Telegraph.

Google reported "insane demand" for the service last week as early adopters fought to get a much sought-after invite to join up. Everyone who gets an invite is then allowed to invite a dozen more people and the membership has expanded rapidly. Even Zuckerberg himself opened an account, and asked: "Why are people so surprised that I'd have a Google account?"

Paradoxically the Facebook founder was the most-followed man on Google+ until he altered his privacy settings this week to hide his popularity. According to socialstatistics.com he had more than 134,000 followers before he dropped off the radar on Wednesday.

Google+ had a number of apps that were seen as superior to Facebook's, including a chat feature called Hangouts. However, Facebook quickly responded and took some of the wind out of the Google+ sails by unveiling a partnership with Skype to provide free video chat.

But Google will be delighted that its new venture has caused such a stir while it is in what it calls a "limited field trial". It promises visitors without invites that the "project" will be open to everyone soon, and when that happens it could mount a serious challenge to Facebook. ·