Google Bu…Zzzzz?

What is the first thing we all do when we find something interesting? Most would say, "Share it." Most of this sharing takes place online. Google Buzz is Google's new social networking and messaging tool, integrated into the e-mail program, Gmail. Users can share links, photos, videos, status messages and comments, all organized in your inbox in Gmail. It is an easy way to start conversations about things you find interesting. Built right into Gmail, Google Buzz uses the people from your contacts. Like Twitter, you "follow" the people you e-mail and chat with the most. You can share publicly with the world, or privately with your close friends and family members. So in other words, Google Buzz is a combination of Twitter and Facebook under the imposing Google umbrella.

About five years ago, Google created Gmail and as Google's Vice President of Product Marketing, Bradley Horowitz, said, "Gmail is a Google approach to mail." Mail became searchable and grouped into conversations. Now there is Google Buzz, "A Google approach to sharing."

Announced February 9, 2010 at a press conference at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Buzz was launched the same day at 11am Pacific Time for the first set of users. The feature was then integrated to Gmail accounts in the weeks that followed. A mobile version of the site was optimized for Android phones and Apple's iPhone soon after. A version of Buzz for businesses and schools, like NYIT, that use Google Apps is also planned.
"Great! Another Twitter," some of you are probably saying. So what makes Buzz so special? When Google introduced Buzz at their press conference, Buzz Product Manager Todd Jackson highlighted five key features that he feels distinguish the new social networking tool:

1. Auto-following: In Buzz, you will see content from people you follow; very similar to Twitter. You automatically start following people you e-mail and chat with the most without having to create an, "entirely new social graph from scratch."

2. Rich, Fast Sharing Experience: "Buzz brings a Gmail UI (User Interface) to social data with the same look and feel, the same fast keyboard shortcuts and everything that you're used to in Gmail. We paid special attention to media - YouTube videos, photos from Flicker and Picasa, Twitter updates, [and] links to Websites," says Mr. Jackson.

3. Public and Private Sharing: "With Buzz, we want to make it possible for you to publish your thoughts to the world and have them instantly indexed by Google's real-time search," Mr. Jackson says, "but we also wanted to make it easy to share privately to just your family and friends, and we wanted it to be easy to switch back and forth between the two in the same product."

4. Inbox Integration: "The inbox is the center of attention for many people's online communication." Mr. Jackson explained that, "The way that today's social tools interact with e-mail is pretty limited. So, with Buzz we wanted to change that and bring social updates to your inbox in a way that goes beyond normal e-mail."

5. Just the Good Stuff: Bradley Horowitz said that, "With the amount of social data growing fast on the Web today, it's harder and harder to filter through the noise and keep up with the stuff that your friends are sharing that your care about. Also, you miss a lot of the great content being shared by people that you just don't happen to follow."
Since its debut, Google Buzz has had some privacy issues that they are in the process of resolving. Users have complained that it has terrible default privacy controls and publicly exposes too much of their private information, specifically a list of those they regularly chat with and e-mail. Nick Thompson, Senior Editor for Wired Magazine, says "A woman's ex-husband was suddenly connected to her [on Buzz], and because he was connected to her, everybody that he was connected to could then see her profile, and Google Reader comments." Fred, user name "RanCiel810", from YouTube says, "My Google Buzz has been spamming everything I've been doing online on Tumbler, YouTube, and on Blogger… It spams my friends' inboxes, and it's kind of overwhelming."

This public outcry has Google making some changes to Buzz. For one, Google Buzz will stop auto-following the people you regularly e-mail and chat with and will, instead, suggest that you follow these people when you first start using Buzz. Also, Buzz will no longer connect your public Picasa Web Albums and Google Reader shared items automatically. Finally, Google added a new "Buzz" tab to your Gmail settings so you can disable or hide it from Gmail.

Nonetheless, Google did not make one change that some users feel is crucial. Buzz will still show your "follower/following" lists publicly by default, and you must still manually make these private. Will this discourage people from using Buzz, knowing that their privacy is at stake? Bwana from Bwana.tv says, "Google Buzz has a lot of features from 'Friend Feed' that I like, but it lacks a lot and does have problems…Given that Google has already come forth and [somewhat] fixed the privacy issue, I have a good feeling they will continue to make the necessary changes." I suppose time will tell how much of the public with utilize Google Buzz…

If you use, and have problems with Buzz, instead of complaining on Buzz, send Google some feedback by going to http://j.mp/cwTJ2n. Google Buzz: will it be annoying as a Bee going "Bzzzz" in your ear, or will it catch on?