If you knew the other side of the story - how folks at Google felt about G+ - you'd know what I mean. Historically there's been a ton of internal pushback against many C-level decisions. Killing Reader was one instance where we had petitions, public outrages and a few ragequits. But nothing ever came close to how demoralizing G+ was. Lots of folks genuinely believed in G's "mission" and joined the company to make the world a better place. No, seriously, a ton of people believed it. Seeing how cynical G's play against FB was and how willingly G trampled its core values in the process lots of people simply lost faith in the company. Most of them stayed but the magic was gone. I think at some stage it became clear that if you push this pedal to the metal the company will simply implode.
That corresponds strongly with my (outsiders) view, and conversations I've had with a few Googlers. Though I'm also aware that decisions at _any_ organisation can be unpopular, and in a large company, you'll have responses.