[chii]

not to mention that i think there was some google+ initiative back then (i might've gotten the timing wrong tho). There's some office/department political machinations in the background, and the fallout of that ruined wave.

[angry_moose]

Might be thinking of Google Buzz (hey, remember Buzz!?). Google+ was a few years later (2011)

[chii]

hah, you might be right! It was something to do with requiring all these new features being delivered/tested at google to include some social thing.