How does a social network get social?

As with many people around the world, I was looking forward to Google getting on the social networking bandwagon to see if it could cast off the mistake of Orkut and create something compelling that would steal some of Facebook's thunder and, indeed, crown.

However, perhaps it is to be expected that only those quite deeply entrenched in geekdom have so far obtained the full benefits of Google +. The problem, as affects all social networks, is that of critical mass.

People will not engage until there is critical mass. Without engagement, there will be no critical mass.

The geek world, as shown by those blogging and Tweeting about Google +, has shown that within their circle, critical mass was achieved weeks ago.

For the general public, however, in which I largely include myself as most of my direct contacts and friends are not what one could call 'geeks' (I'm the token geek in their world) have hardly heard of it.

As a result, I have a large number of circles on Google + but only one or two people in those circles are actually on Google + themselves. So there's no point broadcasting and sharing with them when I can do it through Twitter and Facebook, right?

But, I remind myself, Twitter was a geekfest for a few years before really hitting the public consciousness last year...by which I mean those who are still wary of the internet for it might steal their soul have also heard of it.

So I shall wait. And bide my time.  Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point" and Everett Rogers's "Diffusion of Innovations" talk of the importance of critical mass...so hopefully the masses will leave criticism to others and get on board so that people such as I can play properly.

I could, I suppose, actively go out seeking geek friends... but then we'd be in danger of only talking about Google +... and that would not be healthy.