Last week, reports emerged that Facebook CEO and sustainability enthusiast Mark Zuckerberg had decided to scope the competition and join Google+. This, of course, prompted everyone to speculate as to the validity of said account.
It turned out that the Mark Zuckerberg Google+ account was not the work of mischievous trolls but actually an authentic account. This information was taken from a Saturday post by Robert Scoble that discusses a text he received from Zuckerberg. Check out the post –
I guess he’s right. Why should people be surprised that Zuckerberg would jump on Google+? Even if you drop the whole “check out his competition” angle, Google+ is the hot new lady in town. Even billionaire CEOs can’t be immune to curiosity.
And people sure seem to be curious about Zuckerberg. According to the Google+ Statistics page, he has amassed more followers than anyone else on the new service. Yep, more people have assigned Zuck a circle than Google CEO Larry Page.
Uh, awkward?
As of right now, just shy of 35,000 people “have Mark in circles.” Just under 24,000 have decided to follow Larry Page.
Other notable people near the top of the list are Robert Scoble at #5, Matt Cutts at #6 and TechCruch’s MG Siegler at #9. Everybody’s first friend on Myspace, former President Tom Anderson is currently 17th.
Zuckerberg has yet to post anything but has added 68 people to his circles. His about section reads “I make things.”
What does all of this say about our obsession with Mark Zuckerberg? Well, it appears that certain film about him didn’t damage his rep too much. He’s still a fascinating figure to many. And I’m sure he will continue to reign atop the Google+ follower leaderboard, that is, until Lady Gaga joins.