Can Google Plus topple Facebook?

Gaining critical mass is a black art; if you could do it by numbers, we’d all be making squillions as internet moguls. But Google has more clout to launch a successful social network than any other company (even the gigantic News Corp couldn’t stop MySpace falling from grace).

With Google Plus, it may succeed. Most of us have already got a Google login. Despite its size, most of us still believe Google’s open web intentions. Most of us have, at one time or another, objected to some area of Facebook policy. And most of us is what it will take to make Google Plus succeed.

In Stuff.tv's own poll, over 40 per cent of readers said they were "dying for an a decent alternative to Facebook" while just a quarter thought there wasn't room for another social network. When Google Wave was first announced, it generated only a third of the search interest of Google Plus. If those same ears continue to be pricked by the time we get to the public launch of Google’s latest venture, Facebook might want to ask Rupert Murdoch to get his chequebook out again.