Social Networking Stats: Google+ Hits 400 Million Users, One-Fourth Are Active; #RLTM Scoreboard

Google Plus Tops 100 Million Active UsersThe #RLTM Scoreboard:  Social Networking Stats for the Week

Facebook: 955 million monthly active users via Facebook
Twitter: over 500 (140 active monthly) million users via Twopcharts / WebProNews
Qzone: 599 million monthly active users via ResonanceChina
Google+: 100,000,000 monthly active users via Google
Sina Weibo: over 368 (36.5 active daily) million users via China Daily
Renren: 140 million active monthly users via TechInAsia
LinkedIn: 175 million members via LinkedIn
Tumblr: 73 million blogs via Tumblr
Instagram: 100 million users via TechCrunch
Tagged: 330 million members, 20 million monthly users via Tagged
Foursquare: over 20 million users via Foursquare
Pinterest: 20 million users via Forbes
Posterous: 15 million monthly users via Posterous

Please email marissa@modernmediapartners.com if you have additional updates, or a social network that you feel should be on the list.

400 Million Users Have Upgraded to Google Plus — 100 Million Are Active Monthly Users

This week, Google Senior Vice President, Engineering Vic Gundotra announced that 400 million Google users have now upgraded to Google+.  Of those, 100 million are “monthly active users” on Google+. In other words, one-fourth of all users who make the upgrade become regular users of the service.

The numbers still pale when compared to Facebook’s 955 million active user number, but Gundotra reminds us that Google+ launched from beta just 12 months ago.

One interesting nuance is how Gundotra positions the growth. He writes:

“It was only a year ago that we opened public sign-up, and we couldn’t have imagined that so many people would join in just 12 months. While Google+ is all about creating a better experience across Google, it’s also a destination. And here too, I’m happy to report that we have just crossed 100,000,000 monthly active users on Google+ (plus.google.com and mobile app).”

In other words, even if people don’t become active users of plus.google.com, Google still sees value in getting people to upgrade to the Google+ “experience.”

As Frank Reed points out at Marketing Pilgrim, Google’s approach is more about integration across a suite of services:  “Google+ is not a social network in the classic sense. It is part of an overall strategy that will ultimately impact business more than it does personal lives. But guess what? Everyone is involved in business as either a producer or a consumer.”

As Facebook begins to hint that it may be getting serious about search, do you see Google and Facebook becoming more competitive?  Or will they be serving entirely different needs?  Are you using both networks — and how are you using them differently?