Put perhaps a bit glibly, turns out "we're freaking terrified of Facebook" is not a product strategy. At the end of the day this was an executive's pet project

Put perhaps a bit glibly, turns out "we're freaking terrified of Facebook" is not a product strategy. At the end of the day this was an executive's pet project in response to what he considered an existential crisis to Googles future. While certainly motivating, that doesn't result in focused or quality services.