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Britney Spears Knocks Larry Page Off Top Of Google+

Britney Spears
Britney Spears (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS SF/CNET) - Google CEO, Larry Page might, at this very moment, be lying down, looking up, and whispering "Hit Me Baby One More Time."

This is not an excessively wishful and twisted thought on my part. Instead, it is an expression of how pleasing it must be for Google's hierarchy to finally have some legitimacy for its social network, Google+.

For someone at PC World has been diligent or nerdy enough to notice that La Spears now has more Google+ followers than La Page. At the time of writing, she leads him by around 8,000 humans. (She's at just over 768,000.)

Britney Spears - Google+
(Photo Credit: Screenshot-Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Oddly, I had thought that Spears had somehow drifted from the firmament into a strange pool of normalcy. Indeed, she boasted only today to the delectable Bang Showbiz of having "a very traditional household."

Perhaps that is what has suddenly endeared her to the masses on Google+.

Naturally, some might not have been aware that there are masses on Google+. Indeed, a frighteningly detailed analysis by cloud computing person Sam Johnston told me today that Twitter is still five times bigger than Google+.

Some might, therefore suspect there is a nefarious arm of the PR industry (or a hacker) at work here, desperate to enlarge Spears' profile (and/or that of Google+, of course) in the same manner as her former beau Kevin Federline's girth seemed to enlarge over the years.

I have another theory.

Google+ is still full of nerds. And sometimes nerds aren't always forthcoming about their long-held, deep-seated attractions to those who might not seem natural nerd companions.

Spears is, I believe, for many male (and some female) nerds the secret living, breathing embodiment of everything they crave.

A strong woman, one who has enjoyed her ups and her downs, one who can sing them to sleep, one who can throw a moody fit with the best of them.

The presence of Tyra Banks in the Top Five also lends girth to my theory. Although I confess I haven't actually heard her sing.

I feel sure that this is merely the beginning of a new, um, wave for Google's social experiment. It can only continue to soar from here.

Source: CNet.com

About Chris Matyszczyk
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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