Mark Zuckerberg's Google+ profile. (Google+)
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is now the most popular person on Google+ -- the recently unveiled rival social network from Google.
Zuckerberg is listed as the most followed user on Google+ with a whopping 29,543 followers, according to SocialStatistics.com. He beat out both Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who come in at second and fourth with 19,878 and 15,646 followers.
Google's social media guru, Vic Gundrota, comes in third.
Zuckerberg has yet to post a status update on the upstart social networking, leading many to question whether it was even the real Mark Zuckerberg.
His identity was later confirmed by tech blogger Robert Scoble via Twitter: "Zuckerberg just texted me back. Says 'Why are people so surprised that I'd have a Google account?'"
Nor is his popularity truly surprising, considering the media coverage of Facebook: Time magazine named Zuckerberg man of the year in 2010. And having a Academy Award-winning movie about the birth of your company also helps.
But for Zuckerberg, this is about more than just hopping on the latest tech bandwagon; the Facebook founder must be wary of what is Google's biggest push into social networking yet -- it's always good to check out the competition, in other words.
This may turn out to be one of Google+'s fatal flaws, wrote Jay Yarow of Business Insider.
"Any great feature Google invents in Google+, Facebook can just replicate a few weeks or days later, just like Google does with Bing. And unlike in search, Facebook employees can hang out in Google+ with ease and just ask users what they like."
Google released Google+ last week as it looks to take on Facebook, which is used by more than 650 million people worldwide.
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