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Maybe not so hot after all? Just 17% of Google+ users are actually active

Google saw 25 million people join its Plus social network in its first month. We've heard the stats: took Facebook 852 day to reach its first 10 million users, that Twitter took 780 days, and that Google+ took just 16.

But users who don't stick around aren't worth much. In which case, Google+ isn't worth much.

New statistics unveil the ugly truth: a paltry 17% of Google+ users are actually active. This doesn't bode well for the burdgeoning social network—it's leading a lot of horses to water but not many of them are drinking. 

And, for whatever reason, men still dominate Google+. Where most other social networks are quite balanced—and some even in favour of females—Google+'s userbase is less than one-third chicks.

Let's Face It, There's Only Two Tablets on the Market: The iPad and the iPad 2 [Updated]

I want other tablets to succeed.

When I heard about the PlayBook, I was excited. I had a BlackBerry at the time and was looking forward to what RIM could offer me. The specs sounded good and the demo teasers were impressive. I didn't expect it, or any other tablet coming to market, to "kill" the iPad, but I was rooting for a legitimate alternative.

It launched. I tested it. I didn't buy it. I don't have that BlackBerry anymore, either.

The PlayBook was a flop, like the Android devices before it and the webOS device after it. There's a few RIM faithfuls who liked the PlayBook. After all, a few hundred thousand people did buy it. And some people bought the Xoom, and the Galaxy Tab, and a couple even picked up the HP TouchPad.

But when you boil the tablet market down, it's a single-device market: The iPad.

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Android users only spend time on top apps; difficult market for developers

tough android market difficult developers lonely ignoredWith the huge influx of developers looking to break into the mobile app market, it's tough to get new apps noticed. With the recent data on users, however, Android developers are finding it increasingly difficult.

According to data from Nielsen's Smartphone Analytics, despite the 250,000+ apps available for Android, users only spent time with the most popular ones. The top 10 apps alone account for 43 per cent of all the time spent on mobile apps. The top 50 apps account for 61 per cent. If you're a new developer, only 39 per cent of a user's time will be spent on any of the remaining 249,950 or so apps. Even apps that are listed in the top 100 — not to mention the top 1000 have a greatly diminished chance at being used.

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Why Google+ May Not Be Able To Sustain Its Growth

This article was written by Douglas Idugboe and originally published on Smedio.

Some quick facts – Facebook took about 35 months to get 25 million visitors. It took Twitter more than 30 months and it took Myspace more than 20 months to reach the 25 million-user mark. In contrast, Google+ has crossed this landmark in less than 30 days. While critics would be quick to dismiss this as the ‘launch hype’, there’s no denial that we haven’t seen such astronomical growth numbers on any other social network.

In fact, several social media experts believe that Google+ could outgrow Twitter by the end of this year. If Google+ continues to grow at its current pace, this possibility can’t be ruled out. More than the numbers, I’m keen to explore whether Google+ has the legs to sustain this monumental growth. Most importantly, does Google+ have a solid roadmap to keep surprising users with new and innovative features? Here’s my take on Google+ and how it needs to grow.

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Google acquires Motorola Mobility $12.5 billion, seizing war chest of patents and first hardware platform

Google is adding some big weaponry to its arsenal with a $12.5-billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

The deal, which saw the software giant pay a 63% premium on the ailing mobile device manufacturer, will boost Google's patent portfolio and enhance its hardware resources.

Motorola's stock is, of course, skyrocketing on the news, but Google's has actually dropped 3%, signalling that investors are wary of this very big and very unexpected move.

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The War Between Apple and Google is Getting Bloody, and For Good Reason

Google seems to be in fights with everyone lately.

It lashed out at Microsoft (who countered), its Google+ social network launch sent a message to Facebook (who's not pleased), and it's been defending Android software against iOS software for a while now.

When batting against Apple, Google ought to be wary. Apple's many particular patents and wise legal approaches make for some wicked curve balls—one of which forced Samsung to strike out recently, blocking sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab throughout Europe.

Apple will sue over software or hardware or you name it—as has been demonstrated time and time again, in legal battles or otherwise, the company is adamant about maximizing its control over everything it possibly can.

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Google+ adds games; Facebook adds new gaming features

facebook vs. google social media gamingCasual gaming is becoming a big business in the electronics and social media industries. Not one to be left behind, the new social network, Google+, just released a new feature that will allow users to play games on its site. Google's announcement included games such as Angry Birds, Bejewelled Blitz, Zynga Poker, Dragon Age Legends, and Crime City.

Not to be outdone, within hours of Google's announcement, Facebook introduced a slew of new features for their gaming service. Facebook now offers Game Ticker, which transforms the right-side chat column into a newsfeed of friends' game activity. It will display which games friends are playing as well as achievements and high scores. Clicking on a Game Ticker story will take you to that game so that you can play with your friends. You can also control which stories appear and don't appear in the stream.

Facebook users will also have more room to play as the site has introduced an expanded-screen mode for games. Users can also bookmark their favourite games so that they're easily accessible from the News Feed.

Google is clearly trying to compete with Facebook by undercutting many of its services.

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Find the Best Content on the Web with Thoora

A few weeks ago I blasted Google +’s Sparks feature indicating that it had missed how social, semantics and aggregation could be combined in an effective way.

I’m still a Google + skeptic, despite the massive subscriber numbers, as Google recently announced they will try to continue real-time search after losing its agreement with Twitter by using Google +. The reality is that real-time search will need Twitter and a much larger user base to be truly successful.

There are other options to Google Sparks though, like Toronto-based Thoora which is a new way to discover and share the best content on the web.

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Klout adds slew of new services to its system, including Blogger, Tumblr, and Flickr

Klout, a startup that has fast become the gold standard for quantifying online social media influence (aka clout), has added a slew of new services.

What started with Twitter gradually expanded to Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, then Foursquare, with Google+ in the works.

Now it's gone and added a bunch more at once—Tumblr and Blogger on the blog side, Flickr and Instagram on the image side, and even Last.fm.

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Google launches Engage Canada partner program

Google officially launched their Engage Canada program yesterday in Toronto at an all-day event at the Carlu. Advertising Nectarios Economakis at Google Engage Canadaagencies, small business owners, webmasters, and search engine marketers were invited to attend and learn more about the program - which helps small businesses with their online marketing campaigns. 

The Google Engage Canada partner program comes at a crucial time when more and more Canadian small businesses are getting online and seeking guidance for their digital marketing strategy and campaigns like Google AdWords.

Chris O’Neill, Country Director at Google Canada, kicked-off the event by speaking about current trends in the Canadian digital landscape. O’Neill discussed the “new power of small” and argued that “small companies can do amazing things because of the Internet.” He referenced the Google Canada “Get Your Business Online” program that is currently underway to help the more than one million small businesses in Canada who do not yet have a website.

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