It’s too early to tell how successful Google Buzz will be, or even the full extent to how folks will us it. Starting off by opening the floodgates of social networking to over a hundred million Gmail addresses is certainly getting a lot of people to give the new social networking tool a workout, and it just could threaten a number of social media platforms.
Heck, you can’t get away from it,
It’s all colourful and bright, sitting right there under your inbox, how can I resist clicking on it!
Bullying their way vs. Social Media startups
Google and Facebook have the power to start with an audience and grow time on their sites by offering new user experiences. Google has learned from Facebook that a strong userbase is powerful and that by changing the user experience, they can copy what smaller upstarts are doing, threatening them with extinction.
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, the folks at Friendfeed would be delighted with Googles effort. But in the art of social media, imitation is a weapon used by Goliath to take out David before he gets his stone spinning.
Buzz adds a few wrinkles on social networking that Twitter and Facebook don’t have:
Private Buzzing your contact groups
Thanks to Chris Messina for pointing this one out. If you create Gmail groups (or use them already) you can target your Buzz to only go to the private recipients. This is far better than the direct messaging of Twitter or the limited options for sharing content in Facebook.
Handheld Buzz includes Nearby Posts and Maps
This could be interesting. Google seemlessly rolled out Buzz across it’s some mobile platforms as well including iPhone. On a handheld, you can see the buzz from your community as well as to see the local public buzz – what is going on around you! This could be a game changer for travel.
Imagine the power of buzz posts to influence your dining decisions when you can see photos and descriptions of what others are doing at nearby restaurants!
It’s not hard to imagine that Google Maps layered with business reviews from Buzz would overwhelm the impact of other review platforms like Yelp! and TripAdvisor.
In it’s own way, buzz may be not as game worthy as foursquare, but Google is certainly offering many of the benefits of social interaction and it is far more likely that your friends have access to Buzz, than any of the upstart social networking games.
Buzz status can even be updated by speaking into your mobile phone!
After one day with buzz, my head is swimming with the possibilities, and the number of followers is growing.
