When Facebook came into the world, Google immediately saw how popular it was to become. The competition between Facebook and Google in the marketing world did not take long to surface, and from that competition came Google+, Google’s venture into the social media world. Now, it is an obvious fact that Google+ is in no way as successful as Facebook, but Google has kept quite a steady pace in staying relevant in the social world. However, despite the knowledge that Google+ does not measure up to Facebook, it seems that Google’s CEO still has something to say about the was Facebook, as a company handles its business.

The interview that is quickly circulating the web is that between Google CEO Larry Page and Wired Magazine’s Steven Levy. Here is a bit of that interview that shows how Page feels about the way Facebook handles its products.

 Wired: One area where people say that Google is indeed motivated by competition is the social realm, where in the past two years you have been working hard in a field dominated by a single rival, Facebook. That’s not the case?

Page: It’s not the way I think about it. We had real issues with how our users shared information, how they expressed their identity, and so on. And, yeah, they’re a company that’s strong in that space. 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. 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.

Wired: What’s your evaluation of Google+?

Page: 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.

This is quite an interesting statement from Google. To say that Facebook is not doing things right with their network, and to then turn around and say that a good way to measure Google+’s success is by the amount of competitors that are copying aspects of the network’s functionality is a bit contradictory.

This is especially true since most of what Google+ is comes from influence and inspiration from Facebook. Facebook set the standard for successful social networks, and Google+ is quite similar in many of its features. The only really unique thing that has come from Google+ is Hangouts, as most of the other features on the network have a Facebook equivalent. However, Google+ does offer something to a user that allows them to bring all of Google’s features to one place.

The competition between Facebook and Google has always been tight, but things may have just gotten a bit tenser. Although there may be space for more than one company at the top of the social network competition, Google+ still struggles to keep up.

Written by Michael Levanduski

Michael Levanduski is a news reporter at Performance Marketing Insider. He’s been a writer at one level or another for the past 15+ years. He has three kids and lives in Grand Rapids, MI.

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