Google sees 'insane' demand for invites to its Google+ social network

Google has closed invitations to join its new Facebook-style social network just a day after it launched, after it received "insane" levels of demand for the service.
The search giant rolled Google+ out to a small cadre of users on Tuesday, much as it did when it launched its Gmail email service, but what was intended as a "limited" launch turned into a frenzy for invitations.

Each user was given around a dozen invitations to pass on to friends and family, in order to test the social networking capabilities of the site, and on Wednesday Google handed "thousands" more invitations to people to join the service.

However, the invitations were quickly suspended. Google's head of social, Vic Gundotra, said on the site: "We've shut down invite mechanism for the night. Insane demand. We need to do this carefully, and in a controlled way."

People unable to get their hands on an invitation that worked took to Twitter today to share loopholes which would help them gain access.

Google has made several failed attempts to launch a social networking service in the past, including Google Buzz and Google Wave, but the initial response to Google+ by those that have used it suggests it will fare much better. It is seen as the company's most serious challenge to Facebook yet. Both social networking sites do a similar job but Google+ uses a system of "circles" which makes it easier to differentiate between social groups and to filter information by audience.
However, Google played down the impact of the initial demand and said Tuesday's launch was just a preliminary roll out ahead of a bigger unveiling further down the line.
"This is the Google+ Project. We still haven't launched Google+ in its entirety. It's not that the service crashed and melted. We just want to keep it controlled," a spokesman said.