Sorry to break it to you like this, but you are an active user of G+. You are actively using a major feature of the product, namely Hangouts. You may not be using it in the way that Google intended it (business vs. personal use), but you are indeed using it.

> I'm actually kind of annoyed every time I have to log onto Google+ to do something because I know they are about to add me to some press release statistic. There's something "evil" about that in my opinion.

Really? So you don't like it when companies release statements about the number of active users on their site? I think you would be hard pressed to find a publicly traded company that doesn't report their number of active users--in press releases, too, no less.

I think what you're trying to say is that you feel that Google+ Hangouts are not a true part of Google+? Because this feature does not specifically need to belong to Google+? (Correct me if I have misjudged your opinion.) Well, sure, it doesn't have to, but Google wants it there, and it makes sense from a social perspective.

You may be using a subset of Google+ features, but that still makes you a user--just like if you only used Skype or Facebook for the video chat feature, you would still be a user.