> There must be some sort of group behaviour explanation to this. Inasmuch as Google acts and observers all sharing the same planet react, sure. Let's run dow

> There must be some sort of group behaviour explanation to this. Inasmuch as Google acts and observers all sharing the same planet react, sure. Let's run down the list! - Perceived decline in search quality. They've remedied this to a decent extent, but when your SERPs are full of spammy, scrape-y dogshit for the better part of 18 months, that's going to ding your brand a bit. - Shoe-horning Google+ into SERPs. Clutters a UI that was once sacred, often with content of lesser value than crawlable content from other platforms. - Sharing user information across Google products that users considered to be separate. Complicated. Good for Google – helps their business. Not unreasonable for users to be suspicious. - For special bonus points: Every time Schmidt's mouth has opened for the last three years, the creepiest shit pours out. Google's willingness – delight? – to be misunderstood for long periods of time is laudable, but costly in terms of potentially irreplaceable goodwill.