Google, which declined to comment on the gender breakdown of its social network, has a long tradition of using its own products internally before releasing them to the public. Products like Gmail and Google Buzz had lengthy incubation periods inside the company before they were released to the public.

But that internal testing process can lead to products too tailored to the distorted bubble in which Googlers operate, where the food and transportation tends to be free, where the internet is incredibly fast and reliable, and where coworkers tend to be brilliant male computer scientists. Facebook, in contrast, was built by college students, for college students. And Google+ can’t yet compete. —Women Explain Why Google+ is All Dudes.