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What competitive systems ?

People keep talking like some magical Facebook competitor is just around the corner, ready to take on 400+ million fleeing users and assume its position at the top.

It simply isn't going to happen. The ghost town that is Google Plus is showing exactly what most competitors end up looking like.

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Using "Google Plus" and "ghost town" in the same sentence is a red flag for not knowing what you're talking about. I get way more engagement on Google+ than I do on Facebook, and I've had a Facebook account for a long time.

Perhaps his Google+ experience is different then yours? I'm inclined to agree -- most people who I know have Google+ accounts, have added me to their circles (and vice-versa) but chose to keep all of their interaction on Facebook.

The groups of people you communicate with are different. Just like during the 90s, some groups used AIM, some MSN, some ICQ...

maybe its more like suburbia than a ghost town.

Shameless plug, I use www.thebuckyball.com to handle all email contacts and social friends, but that's because I wrote the backend, (in erlang) for those interested.

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