It seems Google has been busy within the last few weeks trying to broaden their user base by introducing their line of social networking products. First came Disco, Googles version of Last.fm & Pandora and now they are aiming for the two biggest social networks out there, Facebook and Twitter. For those who don’t know yet, or don’t own a Gmail account, I’m talking about Google Buzz.
When you look at Buzz for what it is, you might notice that it is essentially Twitter on crack or a cleaner version of Facebook. Perhaps this means Google feels a little threatened by the success of these social sites and its ability to deliver content in “real-time”. This is one of the main philosophies Google had when developing this product, according to their keynote presentation. Google realized that more and more people are compelled to share, anything, from what they are eating to useful news related content. With the introduction of Buzz, Google is able to find the relevancy in the content people put out on the digital realm.
Unlike most Google products, they usually go through a Beta phase, but Buzz skipped all that and went straight up to the public. Which says, Google really wants this product to be out there now to contend with both Twitter and Facebook.
From a quick look, Buzz does not introduce anything new per-se. But instead, it takes current ideas and try to streamline them with “a Google approach”. During the keynote, Todd Jackson (Buzz Product Manager) stated 5 key features of Buzz. So I’ll try to do a quick run down of them:
- Auto follow: With this, your current Gmail address book is essentially your “network” of friends. The problem with something like this versus Facebook, is a lot of people do not own a Gmail account, and especially when all their friends are already using Facebook as a means of communication why go through the trouble of joining another network just to talk to the same people. Which brings up the next key feature.
- Rich fast user experience: Personally, I don’t use Facebook all that much. From time to time I will log on just out of curiosity, only to be bombarded with 50+ FarmVille requests. With Buzz, I don’t have to deal with any of that and can just focus on what people are saying. Aside from that, all Gmail keyboard shortcuts have been mapped to work with Buzz.
- Private & Public sharing: Since e-mail is seen as one of the only remaining forms of privacy online, Buzz introduces a bridge between the private and public site of the internet. This is causing much controversy among pundits online since Buzz is built directly into Gmail.
- Inbox Integration: I quite like this feature and think it will really streamline the whole process of “buzzing”. This integration brings social updates and conversations directly to the Gmail Inbox and from which you can update or reply to any comment without ever having to stray away from the inbox.
- Just the good stuff: Though this feature sounds vague, it is quite an important feature when “buzzing”. Google takes the initiative to filter content so you only receive the “good stuff”. This is quite useful when you have friends who constantly Buzz about how awesome their life is, or their day to day tasks.
It will be interesting to see where Google plans to take Buzz in the next few months. Especially what it will mean to current Twitter & Facebook users. I do foresee a future for Buzz but the progression might be very slow at the start, though once people start to realize that Google really know what they are doing, they will all start “buzzing”.
A couple small points:
- Love the product name, Buzz really gets my attention. Like what the fuck is tweet, I’m not a damn bird. I’d rather check out the “buzz”
- The logo looks super clean and perfect for the product name
- The look of the whole interface is much easier to navigate compared to Facebook
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One Comment
google got in some pretty big shit for that!