Google CEO Larry Page Takes Subtle Swipes at Facebook After Announcing Record Revenue

Google cofounder and CEO Larry Page boasted Thursday of his company’s product designed to challenge Facebook, dubbed Google+, stressing multiple times that the fledgling social network is based on “real life.”

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Even though Google+ is still in the invitation-only phase, 10 million people are using it, and they share and receive about 1 billion items a day delivered with “precision,” Page said, because, “In real life, we share different things with different people.”

Page said Google+ was designed to be a product people use at least twice a day, “like a toothbrush.”

Page was speaking on a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss Google’s second-quarter earnings. The company reported 32% revenue growth to a quarterly record $9 billion as net income rose to $2.51 billion from $1.84 billion in the same frame last year.

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The stock soared on disclosure of the results, up 12% in after-hours trading after having closed down 2% to $528.94 during the regular session.

Google said paid clicks rose 18% year over year but were down 2% compared to the first quarter.

Barely mentioned on Thursday’s conference call was Google’s video asset, YouTube, and none of the Wall Street analysts on the call asked whether Google was interested in acquiring YouTube competitor Hulu, as has been rumored.

That was probably fine with Page, who seemed more focused on giving slight digs at Facebook – though not by name – while talking up Google+.

“We have been really excited about Google+ really improving the overall social experience and making it more like how you would share in real life. And that’s really a different product than is out there now,” he said.

“People really like being able to share with more discreet groups in an easy way and intuitive way,” he said.