Normally I would agree with what you're saying. But it's important to notice that Google has always been consistent about this. This confusion originated from s

Normally I would agree with what you're saying. But it's important to notice that Google has always been consistent about this. This confusion originated from sensationalist bloggers looking for a fight with lots of blood that would generate clicks. Google themselves made it loudly clear from day one that they were just adding a social layer to existing products. And I don't think the average users of this social layer (people who use the new social tools in youtube or gmail, but not the g+ stream), are even confused. It's the loud bloggers and us who read them who are confused.