Google earnings for Q4 2011; 90 million Google+ members

Google reported revenues of $10.58 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011 which were 25 percent higher compared to a year ago. Google+ now has 90 million members, according to the company.

Google reported its revenues for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the number, while much higher than those of a year ago, didn't match the prediction of financial analysts. Officially Google said it brought in $10.58 billion in revenue for the period ending December 31, 2011, an increase of 25 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

Because Google didn't reach its financial expectations, shares in the company are getting hit in after hours trading. Forbes reports that the shares are down as much as 9 percent compared to when they closed earlier today.

Google owned sites generated 69 percent of the company's total revenue for the quarter, coming in at $7.29 billion. Google's net income came in for the quarter at $2.71 billion, up from $2.54 billion from the same period a year ago.

Google also gave an update on its social networking service Google+, saying that there are now 90 million members for the service. That's a huge increase compared to what Google said last October when it said Google+ had over 40 million people signed up. It seems that Google is making progress towards making Google+ a true competitor to Facebook and Twitter.