I’ve always been a fan of Google. You probably know that by now. I use their search engine. I use their browser. I use their phone. I use their email. I even have my work in Google thanks to some clever Microsoft Exchange filters. Anyone who sends me a text message appears in my Google Mail. I use their maps. I’ve blogged about it all in the past. So it would only be right to blog about their latest invention.
Out of the blue, out of nowhere, last night came Google Buzz. It’s billed as some sort of cross between Facebook, Twitter and Google Mail. Think email meets social networking. You’re confused aren’t you? I am. I like it’s idea… I think. I’m just not entirely sure what it’s for. And I think a lot of people are thinking the same.
Buzz is a new tab in my Google inbox. And I have my Google inbox open all day every day. Whenever I’m at a computer, my Google inbox is there. And so is Buzz now. All of my contacts in Google are now also there. That includes friends, colleagues and acquaintances. My Google Buzz is closely linked to my Twitter, Flickr and this blog. I make a post on one, and appears in my Buzz. I can also make individual buzzes separate from any other service. And then any of my Google contacts can then make a comment on that buzz, whatever it may be.
What Buzz seems to good at is geo-tagged buzzes (is buzzes the collective term we’re going with by the way?) Google actively encourage you to include your location on your buzzes, so people around you know what’s going on near you. Location aware social network is going to take off massively this year. Twitter is already allowing you to geo tag tweets. Mobile phones with internet access and GPS devices are pretty common, it makes sense to combine the two to give a better localised experience for all.
Will I use it more than I use Twitter? Probably not. But then my Twitter account lay almost dormant, updated once a month at best for its first 12 months. Same with my Facebook. There’s a chance the same could happen with Google Buzz.
What I’d like is a service that all my social network posts, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Last.FM, Buzz, Picasa, YouTube, WordPress are all linked in as one. Some websites already offer services like that, but I’d quite like it to be handily in my Google inbox, and while Buzz gets very close to that, it just doesn’t quite seem to do it… yet.
But it’s still early days. I will be watching and participating with interest.
Tweet was the social media buzz word of 2009, will Buzz be the same for 2010?
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