Google+ now has 10 million-plus users

It may still only be a “field trial” according to the search giants that built it, but the Google+ social network has already hit a major landmark by surpassing 10 million users.

Google’s attempt to battle Twitter and Facebook in the social networking stakes has got off to a flying start and was a main talking in point in CEO Larry Page’s announcement of record quartely profits of over $9 billion (£5.57 billion).

“Google+ is still only in field trial with limited access as we scale the system,” said Page. “Users have to be invited, sign up with a profile in order to use it

“However, the growth on Google+ has been great-and I’m excited to release some new metrics for you today: over 10 million people have joined Google+. It’s great achievement for the team.

“There’s also a ton of activity. We are seeing over 1 billion items shared and received in a single day.”

The Google +1 button, allowing you to rate sites and alter the rankings of search results, also got a nod from Page as it spreads itself out over a wider number of websites:

“Our +1 button is already all over the web. It’s being served 2.3 billion times a day.So while we have a lot of work still to do, we are really excited about our progress with Google+.

“Google+ is also a great example of another focus of mine; beautiful products that are simple and intuitive to use and was actually one of the first products to contain our new visual redesign.”