If you are regular reader of my blog, you’ll know that I’m starting to become more and more disenchanted with Facebook, and more and more enamoured of G+. I’m not alone. I feel like this is a pretty common sentiment these days. Today’s guest post comes from Bernadette Silver, and is all about why G+ is on the rise (to kick FB’s butt). By the way, if you’re on G+, you can circle me at +RebeccaColeman.

Are you using the Google+ social network yet? If not, you should be – especially if you do business online. There are actually a lot of signs that the social media website from Google is actually on the rise. Keep reading to learn more about why we think that more people are going to start using the site in 2014 and beyond.

Why Google+ is Growing

One of the biggest reasons that the Google+ network is growing is that the search engine company behind it is able to flex their muscles to make it almost a priority to have a profile. For example, Author Rank is becoming a hot topic, and this is tied directly to Google Authorship that’s verified with a Google+ profile.

Because webmasters are going to need to tie their content to a “real name,” many people are signing up for Google+ and setting up their profile with a real name and actual photo of themselves. This alone is one of the main things that is causing people to sign up in droves, but it’s not the only reason.

People are also getting really tired of Facebook and Google+ is the next best thing – or the new player on the block. However you look at it, many people are becoming curious – especially about Google Hangouts – and are moving away from Facebook and spending more time on Google+. As this happens more, the rate at which Google+ increases its user base will grow even more quickly.

Will Google+ Overtake Facebook?

This is a tough question to answer because they’re different types of social networks. Even though they have a lot of similarities, there are key differences which make an apples to apples comparison difficult to do. Still, many people are rooting for Google+ and hope that it becomes an even bigger community.

As mentioned above, many people are tired of Facebook and are looking for the next big thing. Google+ might be it. In a lot of ways, Google’s social media network is actually better because it ties directly into YouTube. As you know, this is the biggest video website out there right now and has a lot of users. In the past, YouTube had their own user account system in place. However, this is changing.

Google recently made a change to the comments on YouTube, requiring people to have a Google+ account. A lot of people didn’t like this, but it caused a spike in the sign-ups for Google’s social network. Moves like this are only going to help the search engine giant battle Facebook on their own turf. Who will win the most market share remains to be seen, but there are quite a few signs that Google+ is on the rise and will continue growing for the foreseeable future.

Bernadette Silver likes to read brilliant directories reviews when she has a chance. She took a class once on creating an infographic and learned a lot about content marketing.