I can see the rationale behind Google's (mis)judgment. Social media was steamrolling RSS in popular adoption, and seemed like the future. Sometimes, new technology does replace old technology. But there were a lot of issues with planning and execution.

>> But there were a lot of issues with planning and execution.

That's a very generous understatement:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/10/18134541/google-plus-pri...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/thanks-for-nothing-jerkface/

https://mashable.com/archive/google-plus-history