Facebook today heckled Google asking it not be evil and focus on the user. It was being reported that Google now was forcing users to sign up for Google+ accounts if they wanted to open a new gmail account. This is seen as an aggressive way to increase its Google+ user numbers. But those users aren’t necessarily engaging with Google+. Any action taken during a logged-in Google session—whether it be searching the Internet, checking Gmail or using Google Docs—counts as engagement under the statistic Page used. Google+ is so integrated into the overall experience that what matters is the number of users interacting with any Google site. Combined with other steps Google has taken to integrate Plus into search results and other Google properties, the message is clear: Eventually, Google Plus will just be there whether you want it to or not.
Facebook has 800 million active users, and 50 percent of them log in each day, an impressive feat given that Facebook is really just one site (albeit one with hooks into many other websites). Given the vast number of services Google offers, and the simple fact that Google performs a large majority of Internet searches, it’s not surprising that most Plus users interact with Google sites each day. It would be hard for them not to.
With this forced sign on- Google could easily surpass Facebook’s 800 million user mark before the end of the second quarter this year. Now we are unsure if Facebook will come up with something more awesome to beat Google.