It's recognition of the fact that "social" isn't a good marketing medium. When G+ launched, Google employees were told that their bonus would depend on what they did in "social" products. For a year, Google obsessed on "social". In the end, it was far less profitable than search.
Facebook seems to have hit the limits of user ad tolerance. Myspace ran into that limit, and it killed them. It's not yet clear if it will kill Facebook.
It may be time for social network systems that don't have ads. Ones where you pay a few dollars a month on your phone bill. As computing gets cheaper, the cost of such a service drops, while the "free" ad-supported services keep running more ads. "Free" has an attention cost, and it may be possible to undercut "free" on perceived price.
Facebook seems to have hit the limits of user ad tolerance. Myspace ran into that limit, and it killed them. It's not yet clear if it will kill Facebook.
It may be time for social network systems that don't have ads. Ones where you pay a few dollars a month on your phone bill. As computing gets cheaper, the cost of such a service drops, while the "free" ad-supported services keep running more ads. "Free" has an attention cost, and it may be possible to undercut "free" on perceived price.