I upvoted you, but the point you bring up is not unique to Google +. You should of instead asked:

>Why is there so much discussion about what might be the success or failure of products/services/companies/etc? It's all noise.

And the answer to that question is quite simple. If there are people out there willing to read it, then there are people out there that are going to write it. Online journalism and blogs have made these types of articles the norm.