The Social Media Test
I just did a small test. I tested five of my most popular blog articles on Twitter and Google+. I have two Twitter accounts relevant to outsourcing with a total of about 12,000 followers. I have three Google+ accounts related to business and outsourcing that have a total of about 9000 followers or people who I am following. These five blog articles were on a variety of interesting topics relating to programming, social media, and general outsourcing business. The result was that we got one click on Google+ for every 2250 followers, while on Twitter we got only one click for every 6000 followers. I realize that if I had published different posts, or at different times, the results could have been a lot different.
Analysis
The next piece of information that I noticed was that the reading times for Google+ on these test postings was close to eight minutes, while the Twitter clicks were only a few seconds. I compared this data to average data for both accounts and learned that my average click from my outsourcing Twitter account was a little over one minute, while the outsourcing Google+ account gave me clicks with reading times around two and a half minutes. I get three times as many clicks per follower/followee on Google+ and with double the average reading time. I interpret this information to mean that a follower on Google plus is roughly six times as valuable as a Twitter follower.
However, I got more favorites and shares on my Twitter account. I think that if I did a serious analysis, I should test about twenty posts over a period of several days. This test is just a rough test to get a rough idea of how the various networks compare. My main issue is that I have noticed that on Google+, it is sometimes the case, that a particular post will get a huge volume of traffic, and then on another day, a different post will not. It could be that the Google+ network shows your posts to more people if you have posted less on a particular day. But, if you post too much, that they consider you to be overusing the network, and are not as generous with you. Additionally, if you post too much from the same URL in a particular day, it is possible that Google+ might not light this.
What can you do?
You might be confused about which social network to choose. It is a lot easier and faster to accumulate followers on Twitter. In the long run, it is harder to know which network is better. But, you can try Google Plus, and see what happens. Twitter is a great network to promote average content and still get shares. Google+ seems to be better for promoting your absolute top 1% of your content, and posts with a breathtaking or inspiring vertical photo. Google+ seems to reward the larger accounts. So, if you can get your account to the point where it has 5000+ followers, your experience might get a lot easier than what beginners experience. It is worth a try in any case.
What else should you know?
The fastest way to create the necessary buzz for your post to be shown on Google+ is to post on relevant communities. Sometimes a post can go viral overnight. Twitter doesn’t allow you to do this. It might be best to use Google Plus for what it is best for — communities! Personally, I am a regular on Nature Photo communities, Programming, and Social Media communities, all of which are large.
In any case
Good luck!