Buzz-kill? What’s the Buzz on Google Buzz? Let’s ask…

Early February, Google debuted Buzz.

As most tech-tweet-Socially Media-inclined people, I signed up for Google Buzz when it first came out.

You may or may not heard of Buzz- it a social media tool similar to Twitter and Facebook, but attached to the Google Gmail account. Some sources reported it as a potential Twitter Killer.

I had my reservations. About using it. About it being the Twitter Killer. Now, over two months later- I asked the question:

What IS the Buzz with Google Buzz?

First, let me say my Google account isn’t my primary email account. It’s more like a secondary or tertiary one.

Let me also say that I have issues with  online privacy, especially with social media. I like separation between church and state in SM- for example, I keep my Facebook account for friends/family, LinkedIn is for business and nary the two shall meet. More personal items, such as pictures of my children stay on FB. I rarely tweet about the kids, never by name. I do have FB connected to Twitter via Tweetdeck, but at my discretion. I also like my email a few steps removed. FB, Twitter, LinkedIn lead you to this blog, where you can find my gmail account if you look.

For me, Google’s Buzz got a little to close by flattening the levels from SM to personal email and profile. So after initially setting it up, I backed off. Outside the very basic (picture and a brief profile) not much is going on with my Buzz account. I follow no one, I’m not getting the iPhone App. It’s been relegated to a distant 5th position after my Friendfeed, which means I barely use it.

Curious to other’s experiences, I tweeted (my primary SM choice) to my follower base and DM’d few selected SM pros and amateurs alike.

For the most part, I found the buzz wanting:

I do not use Google Buzz. Maybe later, but not now.

I have used it for about 3 seconds. Over on my Gmail account but until they roll it out to Google Apps I won’t touch it.

turned off buzz the day it was announced

I’m not that into it, I feel like Google is trying too hard

No one I know. It’s going to take something big to move it along

Yep — a bad time because it looked like social media gone wrong — and looked like spam. I think it was more the feel that made it spammy. Not the interface, but how the messages were being sent around and stuff

And this one from  @chrisbrogan

@thebetsy – you can say that I’m only dipping my toes in and that @louisgray is the current reigning champion of it. : )

Hmm. Louis Gray. Of LouisGray.com. His tag line is “A Silicon Valley Blog for early adopters, technology geeks, RSS addicts, and Mac freaks.” Plus he’s the reigning champion… how could I resist?

One tweet, two tweet, One SXSW, and week or two later Louis and I matched up. He was kind enough to answer all my questions, as there was quite a few…

TheBetsy: Buzz was supposed to be the great Twitter-killer, but since the fan-fare I really haven’t heard much about it. I’m trying to get the Buzz on Buzz. What’s the real story. Why isn’t it working… or perhaps it is?

Louis: Google Buzz was never intended to be a Twitter killer. It’s not how the Buzz team positioned it, and should never have been seen that way by any reputable writers. Those who saw it as a full-on assault against Twitter or Facebook were likely doing so for the benefit of pageviews and drama. That said, it does offer the best real opportunity for Google to compete with somebody like Facebook, in terms of aggregation and social sharing, but it is not yet architected to replace either service.

Buzz is very new, so much of the polish we have come to expect from more mature services is not yet there. Because of this, it lacks filters, and it can be, for some, tough to manage connections and updates well. I expect better tools to come in time, and hope they do before those using the service get fatigued and opt out.

Personally, I found it tied me too close to my gmail account, I like a separation of church and state, FB is for friends & family (i have pixs of the kids up there,)  while Twitter, Friendfeed and my blog provide about the right distance.

You’re not the only person who felt the tie-in between Buzz and GMail was not ideal. I recognize this gave Google the best opportunity to start with a built-in social network, and not require starting from scratch. But what’s best for the company isn’t always the best for you. I have taken a fairly open and public approach to my sharing, and have not hesitated to share personal and family updates on sites like Facebook, FriendFeed and Twitter, and don’t expect I will act too much different in Buzz, depending on what the community expects.

What is your experience thus far? Chris [Brogan] says you live on it.

Chris is a very nice guy. I am not living on Buzz, but it is a big part of my social activity online. Every day, I share about 20 items, via Google Reader, to Buzz, and those shares gain activity. If the conversations are good, I participate, and I do check in multiple times a day. That doesn’t mean I live on it, but I can devote about 5 minutes [to] an hour to it a few times a day, and keep engaged.

Do you use it for professional, personal reasons or both?

The shares and engagement I make to Buzz are personal, but done in a professional manner, if that makes sense. I also manage one client’s Buzz activity and expect to do more with new clients.

What are the benefits versus what you used prior? (please tell me what you used)

As a long-time FriendFeed user (going back to late 2007), the benefits of aggregation, likes and comments have long been understood. To have them in a new place with Buzz made sense immediately. As FriendFeed’s community is fading following the Facebook acquisition, Buzz offered a new opportunity to start again with similar tools with a community that has a chance to grow. Buzz lacks a number of the elegant features that FriendFeed was known for, but it also leverages a lot of open standards which make me feel like putting my activity here is the right thing to do.

Are you finding others are using it more or less? Is there a niche that really has adopted it?

Buzz, today, is for the early adopters. The same early adopters I saw participating in FriendFeed and Twitter early are participating with me on Buzz. Thanks to my cultivating a large community of connections in Google Reader already, moving them to engage with me on Buzz was very smooth. I find some people like Buzz a lot and others are just dabbling, just like with most networks.

Are using it in lieu of Twitter/Friendfeed/et al?

I don’t think I have decreased my use of Twitter or FriendFeed much since the launch of Buzz, but as FriendFeed seems to be fading, conversations are taking place in Buzz that might previously have taken place in FriendFeed. Often, those are even with the same people who would have participated there.

Being so close to Google’s home, do you get a sense of how Google sees their performance and adoption of Buzz?

Proximity usually doesn’t give insight into companies, even if you live next door. The best gauge of how the team is interpreting Buzz are their public comments. I think they were surprised to the negative reactions they received at first, and the massive reactions to what I believed were minor privacy goofs. Conversations I have had with people there show they think they need to iterate more quickly, but they are working hard to not introduce latency for their GMail users and want to continue on their path of using Buzz as a testbed for all these new open standards.

Anything else you think  I’m missing?

Many products, especially those from well-respected companies like Apple and Google, have the ability to get users and reporters into a froth about what “could be”, even if it strays from reality. For every post that says Buzz is the end of the world or something completely amazing, it’s more likely somewhere in the middle. Even in this world when we all seem to have shorter attention spans, and get drawn to the newest shiny objects, we should be patient. I hope Google can deliver something that is useful, but open and discoverable, and not cede the market to Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you so much in advance, I know you’re busy and really appreciate your time.

You’re welcome. Sorry for the delays!

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It is interesting to note that around 12 days after Buzz’s debut, Bradley Horowitz, Google’s VP of product management pretty much dovetailed what Louis was saying when he told eWEEK that “Google Buzz is not intended as a challenge to Facebook or Twitter, but as a unique complement to those Web services.”

When eWEEK asked about Buzz as a Twitter/Facebook killer Horowitz responded:

“Absolutely not. Per what I just said, this is creating a new category of communication. It’s filling a niche, which is not currently met in the market. I think something unique is happening on Buzz that will continue to evolve. It’s hard to create a trend line or extrapolate too much from six days of use, but certainly conversation and the conversational Web is a place where Buzz has excelled. I think it is unique and offers a compelling, interesting experience.”

So what’s the story here, is there any Buzz or not?

I think I’m going to have to go with Louis. Not the big splash a lot of people thought it would be, and not a total miss. It’s somewhere in the middle.

I don’t ever count Google out. Buzz 1.0 is not Buzz 4.0. Better features, better integration, more robust and allowing for better conversations can change everyone’s mind. But for now, Buzz  is the playground of the early adopters.

One Response to “Buzz-kill? What’s the Buzz on Google Buzz? Let’s ask…”

1. Tad Miller says:

   April 14, 2010 at 3:19 PM

   Betsy, I may be in the minority in this position, but Buzz is just a smoke screen. The real purpose of having Buzz tied to G-mail was to get people to make a Google profile and give Google the fuel it needs to make Social Search a reality for the masses. Google reported that 10′s of millions of G-mail users participated in Buzz at one time – all of them had to create a buzz profile and many of them linked it to the websites they own and their Twitter accounts.

   Competing with Twitter or Facebook was never the goal. Taking advantage of the data streams of those two sites at the user level was the goal all along.

   See: http://blog.search-mojo.com/2010/02/09/google-buzz-is-a-trojan-horse-social-search-is-the-real-winner/

   http://blog.search-mojo.com/2010/01/29/why-your-company-needs-a-google-profile-part-2/