Does Google get social networking?

This infographic on Mashable points to the various forays that Google has had in social networking.

I saw it just after reading the piece in Wired UK on Facebook and privacy (a good read). Relevant to this infographic is a quote from Peter Thiel (PayPal co-founder and Facebook board member) who says, “I think, [that] at it's core Google believes that at the end of this globalisation process the world will be centred on computers, and computers will be doing everything. That is probably one of the reasons Google has missed the boat on the social-networking phenomenon.”

So do they understand social networking? It seems like they really want to. They certainly understand wireless networking though.