Google+ has surpassed 60 million users since going live earlier this summer. Ancestory.com co-founder and self-proclaimed Google+ unofficial statistician Paul Allen (no relation to the Microsoft co-founder by the same name) estimates that the Facebook rival has topped 62 million users, adding around 625,000 new members daily.
Allen notes that the number of signups have accelerated at a rapid pace in the past several weeks. The new additions could be credited to a number of factors, including but not limited to the holidays, TV commercials, Android 4 signups, celebrity and brand appeal and positive word of mouth.
In a breakdown of his team's tracking since the site launched, it is revealed that nearly 25 percent of all Google+ users will have joined in December. The team from Elance has revised their calculation model twice based on official numbers announced by Google.
Based on current trends, Google+ could reach 100 million users before the end of February and 200 million users by August. The company could finish 2012 with nearly 300 million at this rate, although Allen expects the rate of signups to increase after the holidays. This forecast is based on the fact that 700,000 Android devices are being activated daily which will become a significant source of new users in the coming year.
Allen concludes that 2012 will be a breakout year for the social network and we should expect to see nearly 400 million users by the time 2013 rolls around.