Google might be trying to steal some of Zuckerberg's users with its new social service, but the Facebook crowd is making itself heard 
 
 On July 4, just six days after the launch of Google+, the much-anticipated social sharing service from Google has an unlikely star. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, often tossed around in headlines and stories about Google+ as the service's primary target -- for destruction, not adoption -- has more followers than anybody else. By far. 
 
 According to Social Statistics, a tracking service for Google+ users that is in beta mode, Zuckerberg has more than 21,000 followers even though he hasn't actually used the service. He just has an empty profile with a way-too-close-up photo of his face staring into your eyes and nothing more. (Note: Social Statistics appears to updating slowly. When I visited Zuckerberg's profile while writing this, he had nearly 30,000 followers -- see the embedded profile page displayed above. The assumption, though, is that his number of followers has grown at a rate proportional to that for other users.) 
 
 The second most popular Google+ user is Larry Page, with just under 15,000 followers. That makes more sense: A co-founder of Google, Page was named the company's chief executive officer this last January. The rest of the Google+ top 10 is filled out primarily by tech bloggers, such as Gina Trapani, the founder of Gawker's Lifehacker blog; Robert Scoble; and MG Siegler of TechCrunch. ||||| Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have all hidden how many friends and followers they have on Google+ and since then have fallen off a ranking of the 100 most popular people on the new social network. 
 
 It seems the three tech executives want a little privacy in their social networking. Late Tuesday night, apparently, they changed their privacy settings to no longer display how many people follow them or how many people they have placed in Circles, which are groups of friends in Google+. 
 
 As a result, the three dropped off an unofficial top-100 list compiled by an Amsterdam-based team of programmers on the website Google+ Statistics. The same group is responsible for Twitter Counter, which tracks user popularity on Twitter. 
 
 "Some Google+ members have further closed off their accounts last night which means you won't be able to track their follower and following counts," a statement on Google+ Statistics said. "This completely reshuffled the top 100." 
 
 Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, had held the top spot on the popularity list, with more than 45,000 followers, according to a report from The Next Web blog. 
 
 Page, CEO and co-founder of Google, had been in second place, while Brin, the other Google co-founder, had been No. 4. 
 
 Between Page and Brin was Vic Gundotra, a Google senior VP heading up Google+ who also has fallen from the ranking after hiding his friends and followers. 
 
 With the top four gone, those below have moved up the list. On Wednesday, Rackspace tech blogger Robert Scoble, had the top spot, with 43,131 followers. He was followed by tech writer Leo Laporte with more than 42,000 followers, entrepreneur and investor Kevin Rose with 38,287 followers, and actress Felicia Day with more than 31,000. 
 
 Scoble was previously ranked fifth -- a spot that now belongs to Tom Anderson, a co-founder and former executive of Myspace. 
 
 Zuckerberg's move to go private on Google+ is less surprising than top Google brass pulling the same move. Popularity is a bragging right for many social networks -- with pages proudly displaying follower counts on Twitter and the number of people who "like this" on Facebook pages for musicians, movies, businesses and even public figures. 
 
 It could be possible that Google's Brin, Page and Gundotra don't want to take any attention away from Google+ itself, or maybe it could be a move to focus on content and interaction, rather than popularity on Google+ -- which would be an approach different from that of Twitter and Facebook. 
 
 Representatives of Facebook and Google couldn't be reached Wednesday to clarify the reasons for the privacy moves. We'll update this post if and when they do respond our requests for comment. 
 
 RELATED: 
 
 Mark Zuckerberg may be the most followed person on Google+ 
 
 Google+ has Circles, Sparks and Hangouts, but will it nab Facebook users? 
 
 Facebook data privacy questioned by Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden 
 
 -- Nathan Olivarez-Giles 
 
 twitter.com/nateog 
 
 Image: A screenshot of the Wednesday July 13, 2011 rankings of Google+ users by number of followers on the website Google+ Statistics. Credit: Socialstatistics.com.
– How's this for irony: Google+ is a Facebook competitor ... but its most popular user is none other than Mark Zuckerberg. Zuck hasn't even posted to Google+ yet, the Atlantic notes, but according to tracking service Social Statistics, he has amassed the most followers; in second is Larry Page. A peek at their Google+ profiles reveals that Zuck is nearing 35,000 followers (in Google+ lingo, 34,759 people "have Mark in circles"), while Page, who last posted on June 29, has nearly 24,000. Click for more on Google+.