(Image source: Google)

BY JIM FLINK

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

Lots of people boarded the Google+ bus when it first left the depot.

Now it appears most of those riders bailed before reaching their destination.

The Inquirer says Google has had a gaggle of problems keeping users.

“Google's problem is not getting users in the first place, it seems, but rather keeping them after they have arrived. For now it appears that a lot of users are merely curious about Google+, but return to the tried and tested format of Facebook when the lustre fades.”

The traffic analytics firm Chitika reports -- Google+ has lost the interest of 60% of the original users who signed up.

At the peak of Google plus hype, Google’s traffic had spiked 1200%.

Forbes crunches the math and says, this is hardly an epic fail.

“So, what the report is actually saying is that in less than a month traffic has risen 480%, or 4.8 times. Which isn’t, really, all that much of a failure.”

So is it something Google+ did?

ReadWriteWeb says its own referral numbers suggests -- there's only so much time in a day for social networking, and Google isn’t converting early adopters into loyal users.

“Our monthly referrals from there are down 38% since their peak, while Facebook referrals are up 67% and Twitter referrals up 51% over the same period...Despite all the new features and responsiveness to user feedback, Google Plus just doesn't seem to be catching on...”

Google’s biggest problem may be its network of users.

ITworld says your contacts -- friends, family, business associates -- aren’t using Google+.

“...that's because they're all on Facebook. So if a Google+ user's goal is to interact with friends or family online, they are much better off (at the moment) relying on Facebook, much as a person seeking to auction an item online is better off using eBay -- because that's where the action is.”

IT World also points out -- Google+ users likely number around 30 million.

Good number.

Facebook’s -- more like 800 million.

Noting -- Google+ could still rival Facebook.  It just has some work to do.