I found the article pretty good. It states clearly the issue:

Google need to be clear to their employees what the definition of success in social and they should define it based on their strengths rather than the competition's product.

I believe Google is very close to getting there: they need to deliver a great ChromeOS experience and they improve their apps.

I wait impatiently to give Google 2 photo-sharing customers who won't make it to facebook: my parents.