Google Co-Founder: Facebook is "Doing a Really Bad Job on Their Products"

Google co-founder and current CEO Larry Page believes Facebook is "doing a really bad job on their products".

"Yeah, they're a company that's strong in that space," he told Wired. "But they're also doing a really bad job on their products. For us to succeed, is it necessary for some other company to fail? No. We're actually doing something different."

Page doesn't elaborate on what products he's not particularly impressed with. That said, the interview was carried out before the announcement of Graph Search, an extremely specific search engine tailored for the social network.

He did, however, state that Google's social networking platform, Google+, remains one of its core focuses and believes it has room to grow.

"I’m very happy with how it has gone. We’re working on a lot of really cool stuff. A lot of it has been copied by our competitors, so I think we’re doing a good job."

"For us to succeed, is it necessary for some other company to fail? No. We’re actually doing something different. I think it’s outrageous to say that there’s only space for one company in these areas. When we started with search, everyone said, “You guys are gonna fail, there’s already five search companies.” We said, “We are a search company, but we’re doing something different.” That’s how I see all these areas."

His comment's follow Google+'s VP of product stating that Facebook is a social network of the past and the fact that it's "pissing users off". Google+ boasts 135 million monthly active users and 500 million members in total, while Facebook has over one billion monthly active members.

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  • stratplaya
    Facebook has a product???
    Reply
  • diddo
    If Facebook is/was doing a bad job, Google co-founder would not bother talk about it.
    my 2c...
    Reply
  • "For us to succeed, is it necessary for some other company to fail? No"

    Yes, that's exactly it. The only reason people use Facebook is because everyone uses it. As soon as the critical mass of enough friends is on something else, then you switch. Why would I use a new social network that no one I know is using?
    Reply
  • mrmaia
    If Larry and his guys plan on promoting Google+ by bad mouthing Facebook, they're going to fail miserably. FFS, just assume G+ won't be able to compete anytime soon and stop pointing fingers around, maybe people will check it out.
    Reply
  • wemakeourfuture
    He's throwing stones? Really? Does he realize how Google+ is completely inferior to Facebook on all important metrics.
    Reply
  • atikkur
    G+ is different than Facebook then so does Facebook is different than G+... where is the problem?
    Reply
  • snwkill
    I have a feeling Facebook's board of directors is going to drive FB into the ground... It is already going down that road with paying money to send people you don't know messages to their regular account.

    All they can do is position themselves to pick up users just like FB did with Myspace
    Reply
  • jarred125
    wemakeourfutureHe's throwing stones? Really? Does he realize how Google+ is completely inferior to Facebook on all important metrics.
    And what metric is that? Total amount of facebook users who post their restroom visits or where they went shopping today? Total number of funny cat pictures or redneck jokes?

    G+ seems (for me) to have superior content in general.
    Reply
  • imispgh
    Look up the Google patent losses especially the one where Vringo crushed them regarding their main search approach. Turns out Google stole much of that from Peter Lang at Lycos.

    Me thinks Mr. Page doth drink too much of his own bathwater.

    What if Facebook bought Vringo and used their search patent to compete with you?
    Reply
  • jarred125
    imispghLook up the Google patent losses especially the one where Vringo crushed them regarding their main search approach. Turns out Google stole much of that from Peter Lang at Lycos.Me thinks Mr. Page doth drink too much of his own bathwater.What if Facebook bought Vringo and used their search patent to compete with you?
    Why don't you cite your sources rather than just post a reply telling others to go do the research? I can make a lot of claims and never back them up either ... hoping that people will just take it at face value and never look into things. Didn't you learn to cite your sources in school?
    Reply