[tbh2347]

People have to stop saying this. Google isn't so blind as to think every product's sole purpose is to drive pageviews.

I'm speculating just as much as you are, but I don't think it's unreasonable to guess that a big part of Google+ is to drive usage of its other products. Once people start sharing directions, collaborating on documents, and so on G+ will be there to introduce users to one product after another. Sure, social ads may/will be important, but saying "what Google will care about is pageviews" is simplifying it immensely.

[loumf]

That's why I prefaced it with "from a business point of view" -- to imply that it isn't the "sole purpose", but it's certainly looked at. I'm not saying that they will game the system by forcing page-views when not needed by the product, but that they will judge success based on usage, not average friend count.