REALLY?? Do we honestly need another social networking tool?
According to Google…YES!
Google Buzz will be showing up in about 1% of gmail user accounts starting today, and everyone else should have it within the week.
The application will allow users to share status updates, images, and video.
It sounds to us just like Facebook or Twitter, but apparently there are a few reasons Google wants you to think Buzz is better:
1. Blends With Gmail
The main way of accessing Google Buzz will be through Gmail. Below your inbox, there will be a tab for Buzz, allowing you to read status updates, photos and video. The 40 people you converse with the most in Gmail and Gchat are automatically added as friends. Buzz updates also appear in your inbox if someone comments on your updates or comments, or someone directs a Buzz to your attention by using the familiar “@” symbol.
2. “Page Rank” for Status Updates
Google brought up that familiar criticism of social networks, that no one cares if you ate a bagel or stubbed your toe. To compensate for noise, Google Buzz lets you like and dislike status updates, and learn over time whether to show or collapse status updates from your friends. It also looks for conversations outside your direct group of followers and adds them to your feed as recommendations.
3. Media Gets Pulled In
Photos from Flickr and Picasa and video from YouTube appear as thumbnails in Google Buzz. Click a YouTube thumbnail, and the video will expand to play inline. Click on a photo, and it’ll expand to fill most of the browser window, with the rest of the gallery in a narrow strip along the bottom of the screen. If you post a link in Buzz, you’ll automatically be able to append images and the headline from that Web page. Finally, you can pull in tweets from Twitter (but no Facebook updates) into Buzz. Unfortunately, you can’t send your Buzz updates out to Twitter or other social networks.
4. Mobile Features
Google Buzz will be available as a mobile Web app, letting you dictate status updates by voice and geotag your posts. When looking on Google Mobile Maps, Buzz updates appear directly on the map, so you can read location-based updates. You can also look for any recent Buzz updates posted near your current location.
5. Private and Public
With each update you send, you’ll have a choice of making it private or public. Private updates can go to all of your Buzz followers, or just a select group. Public updates are posted on your Google Profile page and are immediately indexed for Google Search.
Hmm…hasn’t shown up in our gmail yet!!! Still sounds to us just like another unnecessary way to publicize absolutely nothing to nobody in particular, but we’ll see how it catches on!!
What do U think? Are U excited for Google Buzz???
