Google’s decision to limit access to its new social network Google+ seems to be paying dividends for the search giant, with thousands of users all clambering for that all important invite.
Whilst Google shut the door on the official invite process for the time being, Google users have been able to join the social network by way of another route which involves sharing posts from within the network to people without an invite via email. This led not only to thousands of new Google users in the past couple of days but celebrities have wanted a piece of the action and have tapped their contacts to gain a place in users’ Circles.
This morning, we took to The Next Web’s Google+ profile and asked the question:
How long before the first celebrity joins the party? Who do you think will be the first one? Ashton Kutcher?
The post was made in jest but little did we know that Ashton was already a member of Google+, as were a number of other celebrities.
We have compiled a small list of the celebrities that we have found the service, including some that list other celebrities within their Circles, and we would like your help to add many more (thanks to Phandroid for their assistance):
Ashton Kutcher
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Mr Kutcher seems to have joined up using a Gmail account associated with his media company Katalyst Media. Users reported in the comments of our celebrity spotting post that Ashton Kutcher tapped up a certain Robert Scoble for his invite.
Kutcher lists a couple of Google employees in his Circles, suggesting that the profile is the real deal.
Soulja Boy
Music artist famed for being the youngest recording artist ever to write and produce a Number 1 hit. Echoing Kutcher’s profile, Google employees are listed in Soulja Boy’s Circles, suggesting that he was able to gain an invite directly from Google itself.
Taylor Swift
Although Ms Swift’s account appears to be genuine, it looks to be under the control of the singer’s PR team. Posting updates in the third-person, her team are looking to engage new audiences by being one of the first music acts to use the service.
Mark Cuban
Cuban is an entrepreneur (both on and off the Internet) and the owner of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks, film and TV studios. He lists Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Google VP Marissa Meyer and Internet celebrity Kevin Rose amongst his friends.
Mark Zuckerberg
We had been tipped to the existence of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s profile days previous but at the time could not vouch for the authenticity of the profile. However, over the past few days Zuckerberg’s profile has shown a large number of Facebook employees being added, which could add more credibility to Zuckerberg checking out his competition.
Who have you found?
Have you found any high-profile Google+ users that deserve a mention? Drop us a line in the comments and we will add them to the post.
If you haven’t grabbed an invite yet, you can attempt to secure one by visiting the following page. Signups have been limited for the moment but Google is constantly opening its doors to allow more registrations. If you finally get your invite and can sign up, why not add The Next Web to your Circles?
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