[fpgeek]

I wouldn't say Google+ is a utility, I'd say that Google+ is about integrating existing and new services that Google offers so that the overall package is more useful and more compelling. For instance, there is integrated support for jointly watching a YouTube video or sharing and editing a Google Doc from a Hangout (though, oddly, the first requires an ordinary Hangout and the second requires Hangouts with Extras).

The reason Google+ is primarily social is that, before Google+, most of Google's services were, at best, poorly integrated from a social perspective (if they were socially integrated at all). That naturally encroaches on Facebook because they provide a number of social services, but the more I look at it, the less I think Google+ is about "beating Facebook". I think it is more about addressing weaknesses in Google's service portfolio that Facebook (and Twitter, etc.) have highlighted. And that can be done without "beating" or "replacing" alternative social services.

For example, one thing Google+ is very good for is for interacting with Google engineers and product teams. That's a part of Google+ that has nothing to do with Facebook (or Twitter, etc.), but is still social and very valuable to Google.