However, Bradley Shimmin, an analyst with CurrentAnalysis, said it was inevitable that Schmidt would get onboard with Google+, and it has likely been in the works for some time.

As for the tough media attention Google+ has been getting over its executives' lack of participation in the social network, the rise or fall in the number of Google+ users and criticism from within its ranks, Shimmin said he would refrain for the moment from making any judgment calls.

"I will wait to call the product a success or failure until after Google has integrated this service within its Google Apps for Business suite," he added. "It seems unlikely that Google+, as a consumer-facing service, will outperform rivals such as Facebook, LinkedIn and others in terms of popularity and user counts. But the service stands a real chance of disrupting the enterprise social networking marketplace, particularly within the mid-market where -borne collaborative services are the norm."

Olds noted that Google+ is showing strong growth, but since the service is just a few months old and starting from zero, it's going to take time and innovation for it to catch up to a powerhouse like Facebook.

"It's going to be a long climb to get close to Facebook," he added. "Getting their own execs using the service that they're touting as the be-all, end-all social networking site would be a good start. If they don't use it, why should we?"