Friday, February 12, 2010

What the Buzz?

Is there room for me on the Google Buzz bandwagon?

I don't know what Google is trying to do with this new service, as Buzz fundamentally doesn't add any new value to Google's other services - the 'sharing' aspect has already been there for awhile with Google Reader, and the only really 'new' feature is it allows you to comment on other's Gmail status messages (a la Facebook). Even the feature to add notes or share a link has been available, although rarely used, on Reader.

There has been a lot of hoopla about Google trying to take traffic away from both Facebook and Twitter with Buzz, but I think that this interpretation is misguided.

While Facebook and Twitter are 'loose' social networks (Facebook is great because it lets you 're-connect' - however that's defined - with long-lost high school and college friends; Twitter is even better because you can 'follow' celebrities and other people you will never meet in real-life), Google Buzz is attempting to create a 'tighter' online social network where your 'friends' are those you already interact with via Gmail contacts.

If anything, Buzz should drive more traffic to Reader rather than away from either Facebook or Twitter. The interface for each Google Buzz post is identical to Reader, and most of the sharing seems to be done from there.

Obviously, as a new service, there's still a lot to be desired and many features that most users don't know about. For example, while writing this post, I found out that you can click on a user's name and see all the buzz they've created(?)! Pretty nice feature, and one that's needed if people want to expand their network beyond their Gmail contacts.

It'll be fun to see how Buzz fares in the near future. Unlike Wave, which people could easily forget about since there were no email notifications, Buzz will at least stay in the minds of users since they'll see a link every time they check their email.