Even as news spread that Chrome was now the world’s most popular web browser, Facebook ended up as the focal point in last night’s discussion between Google CEO Larry Page and talk show host Charlie Rose. Rose asked what’s on a lot of people’s minds: Given Facebook’s mammoth IPO, was Larry Page worried?
In the clip above, Page discusses one incident he thinks distinguishes Facebook from Google: a spat over user data. Google allowed Facebook to use Google’s database of users to help Facebook users find their friends, but that when Google asked Facebook to do the same, the social network refused. For Page, this amounts to a betrayal of users.
Page: They hold users hostage and they have some reasons that don’t make sense.
Rose: What are those reasons?
Page: They claim it’s a privacy issue but it’s not really because they do it with Yahoo, they just don’t do it with us.
Page goes on to say that he thinks, sooner or later, Facebook will have to stop lording over its data and embrace the same openness as Google. Maybe, but let’s not forget that people have plenty of complaints about the way Google is doing business these days.
The whole interview is very interesting. It’s a rare opportunity to see one of the world’s best interviewers sit down with one of the biggest names in tech. [Charlie Rose via Venture Beat]