I thought it was very odd that Google inserted this paragraph in the beginning of a feature announcement blog post. I think it only reaffirms the inferiority complex of G+ by explicitly explaining that they are indeed a vibrant community.
Inferiority complex? Seems like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. If they didn't, would you claim they didn't release numbers because they feel they have fewer users?
I don't think they're trying to imply anything. What's wrong with just giving you some numbers without any motivation behind it?
