Well, Facebook does the same from a different angle, they just didn't start out with such a large portfolio that they now inject social in - they started with social and now try to inject it into anything they can get their hands on.
The basic hypothesis is: People are social, social drives usage, so let's put it into everything. The problem is: We already have social in everything, without their help, just not in a way that drives their usage.
I can't wrap my head around how clueless Google is being about this...