The Biggest Difference Between Google and Facebook — Explained by Someone Who Has Worked at Both

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Paul Adams.

Google and Facebook are two of the biggest and best-known technology companies you can work for in Silicon Valley.

Each company is known for their perks and giant sprawling campuses, but, as it turns out, the culture in each company is quite different.

Paul Adams, the vice president of product at Intercom, worked at Google for three years, between 2007 and 2010, before leaving for Facebook, where he worked between 2011 and 2013.

There are some similarities between Google and Facebook — they're both technology companies that build products to help people communicate with one another and easily find information.

But they think in completely different ways, says Adams.

"So the biggest difference for me was that Google is very much engineering driven — solving hard engineering technology problems — whereas Facebook was a means to an end," Adams told Business Insider. "They are very much more a social psychology company, trying to build richer ways for people to communicate."

Yes, Facebook has made some "phenomenal engineering accomplishments," according to Adams, but that's not Facebook's mission.

The "things that they talk about and get excited about often are around human communication and the psychology of it," he said.

Lisa Eadicicco covers technology for Business Insider. She has previously written about consumer technology for Laptop Mag, The International Business Times and Digital Trends. Lisa's work has appeared on NBC News, Fox News and Yahoo Tech among other major news outlets.

Lisa graduated from Purchase College in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in Journalism.