Google is obviously gunning for Facebook with the launch of its new social network, Google+. But that hasn’t stopped Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg from getting in on the hot Plus action. And according to Social Statistics, a website that tracks data related to Google+, Zuckerberg has become the new service’s most-followed user, reports Alexia Tsotsis at TechCrunch.
The current count has Zuckerberg with a little more than 29,500 followers. That’s about 10,000 more than Google CEO Larry Page, and 15,000 more than Google’s head of social media — the man most directly responsible for the creation of Google+ — Vic Gundotra and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Filling out the top 10 are tech journalist Robert Scoble; Google SEO head Matt Cutts; tech journalist and entrepreneur Leo Laporte; head of Google’s communications products like GTalk and Blogger, Bradley Horowitz; and TechCrunch writer MG Siegler.
Of course, Zuckerberg isn’t the only one at Facebook taking notice of Google+. This past weekend, a group of four Facebook engineers released an unofficial Facebook app called “Circle Hack,” which allows Facebook users to organize their friends into group using a graphical interface that directly copies the “Circles” organization tool in Plus.
In addition, at least two Facebook employees, product director Blake Ross and vice president of user feedback naomi Gleit, have begun openly soliciting Google+ users about which features Facebook should steal and incorporate into its own service, according to a report by Jay Yarow at Business Insider.
The flow of information seems to only be going one way, however, as Facebook has reportedly blocked an extension for the Chrome browser that allowed Plus users to import their contacts directly from Facebook.
From what we’ve seen of Google+ so far, the service has the potential to become a major player in the social media realm. Plus is still in its “limited field test” mode, so the jury will remain out until the public at large has a chance to take a crack.
Also check out our coverage of the best and worst of Google+. For instructions on how to get an invite to Google+ immediately, click here.
