I'm somewhat mystified by how much circles are talked about in proportion to how cool they are vs. how little hangouts are talked about in proportion to how coo

I'm somewhat mystified by how much circles are talked about in proportion to how cool they are vs. how little hangouts are talked about in proportion to how cool they are. Circles are neat, but nothing really amazing or incredibly original IMO. Hangouts, on the other hand, are IMO the coolest feature of a social networking website in the past few years, which I think a lot of people would agree with if they tried them. Yes, Skype has group video chat too, but someone has to pay money for it and I doubt it's as simple to set up as Hangouts. I guess it's because Circles are a much more visible feature, but I don't know.