Google Plus could reach 20 Million users by the weekend

Google hasn't revealed any official figures yet as to the size of the current user base of it's newly launched Social Platform: Google Plus.  According to an estimate by Paul Allen, the founder of ancestry.com, Google+ could reach 20 million users by this week end if invites to the network remain open.

Paul Allen, in a stream update said that he uses a technique called surname-based analysis where he uses the US Census Bureau data about surname popularity in the U.S, and compares it to the number of Google+ users with each surname. Since Google+ is open to users worldwide, he splits the U.S. users from the non-U.S. users.

He suggests that by using a sample of 100-200 surnames, he is able to accurately estimate the total percentage of the U.S. population that has signed up for Google+. Then  use that number and a calculated ratio of U.S to Non-U.S users (1 U.S user for every 2.12 non-U.S users) to generate the worldwide estimates.

“Since I have been tracking this same cohort of surnames from my first day, I am able to accurately measure growth over time”, he says.

There is now doubt that the Google+ user base is growing incredibly fast and it could well be the fastest growing social platform yet.