Google+ Users Soar Amid Social Network Clash

The battle for social network users is heating up with research estimating the number of Google Plus users is rocketing.

One study suggests the new service could have almost five million users in the US alone - up from 1.7 million users a week ago.

That figure was worked out by Paul Allen, who founded Ancestry.com, and posted on his Google Plus page .

Google is currently limiting the number of people who can use the service, as it tries to fix any bugs within the system.

The search engine's product allows users to limit which friends information and updates are shared by allowing you to group your friends in "Circles".

However, Google has a great deal of catching up to do if it is to match Facebook, which last week revealed it had reached 750 million active users.

Facebook has signalled its intent to retain those users with CEO Mark Zuckerberg promising a number of new features, including video calling through a tie-up with Skype.

The enthusiasm for Google Plus is in contrast to the company's previous attempts at social networking.

Its Buzz and Wave products did not attract sufficient users with Wave being discontinued in August 2010.

The search engine's new +1 article recommendation system is also on the rise with some figures showing it has surpassed Twitter for sharing pages.