Mark Zuckerberg may be the most followed person on Google+

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Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and face of Facebook, may be the most followed person on Google+ -- the social network from Google that is looking to be his biggest rival.

Zuckerberg is listed as the most popular person on Google+, in terms of the number of people who follow his profile page, with a tally of 21,213 followers, according to the website Google+ Statistics.

The next most followed person, according to the site, is Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page, with 14,798 followers as of Tuesday morning. Vic Gundrota, who is leading Google’s social media efforts, and Sergey Brin, who founded Google with Page, round out the top four, respectively.

The website TechCrunch was the first to report on the rankings from Google+ Statistics, which is built by the same Amsterdam-based team behind TwitterCounter, which tracks user popularity on Twitter.

Zuckerberg’s popularity on Google+, ahead of those leading Google’s social media charge, can be seen at the same time as a bit funny and a bit embarrassing -- a competing CEO is more popular on Google’s social network then its own leadership.

Though, it’s not terribly surprising considering how well known Zuckerberg is due to massive amounts of media coverage of Facebook -- the world’s most popular social network -- and its chief executive.

Last year, Zuckerberg was named Time magazine’s person of the year. He also had a few high-profile TV interviews coinciding with a huge rise in celebrity after the Academy Award-winning film ‘The Social Network,’ based on his life and the start-up of Facebook, hit theaters.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Twitter.com/nateog