Blog about Buzz – they made me say it
Or should it be, lets see what all the Buzz is about? Pretty sure they planned that as well. I will preface this blog with the identification of a bias. I must admit I have a little distaste for recent doings of Google. No, I don't want their phone, nor do I want their solar power. The company meddles just because they can, not that they are really providing value. To complicate my bias, throw in a little hypocrisy. I'm a hypocrite. I use Google, not a little, a lot. I would like to believe the tools I use all make sense and am happy to say most they did not create on their own. Why an organization is allowed to control so much information and personal privacy eludes me. Horizontal monopoly? The government is not swift enough to realize what they are up to. With that off my shoulders this blog ( posted on Blogger ) about Buzz can begin.
From birds to bees, Google introduces Buzz. If you are surprised about Buzz, then stick with the afternoon news for your technology updates. No big surprise that it exists, nor its mode of delivery, Gmail. Google was turned on by Twitter very quickly. How could they possible resist in making their own?
Does it compete?
Yes, of course it does. A common strategy of any company is to piggy back off the current leader to take market share. It appears friendly enough, like a nice little aggregator for your Twitter and other "sites" all in a place you are very comfortable, Gmail. "Riding coat tails" is a common business practice and in the end usually results in direct competition. Make no doubt about it Google is going after Twitter. They want the users, but most importantly they want the data. There are two sides to micro-blogging, the user facing functionality and what the usage of the product generates: DATA. Lots and lots of DATA. In my mind the feeds found on Buzz, Twitter, Facebook etc. are more valuable than the product itself. But without users you don't get the feed. Additionally the feed data has a demographic associated with it. For example, Twitter has a clear audience, its not my sister, my niece, and definitely not my mom, it's co-workers, software companies, tech heads and most middle ages. So what happens if you seek a way to broaden the demographic? It is the only compelling reason to create a competing product.
Enter Buzz
I'm not appalled by Buzz, as my first paragraph would probably have you believe. I'm more interested in where it goes. I am frightened by the additional loss of privacy, but if you put yourself out there then it's a choice. I personally do not feel the user experience in Gmail is great, just as I felt about Twitter's page. I suspect very quickly clients will be made available as soon as the Google God gives its blessing and we all make enough sacrifices. I also believe that very quickly the service will take a blow due to needless SEO and blatant marketing campaigns. For a time I felt this activity was killing Twitter, but they did a good job mitigating it and we will see if Google can do the same. Right now Buzz is so-so with some really cool features. It fulfills my need to horde data ( Google has this complex too ), and be efficient. One feature I'm very excited about in Buzz is the comment feature. I can now more rapidly and easily follow a conversation thread. I think I like the "like" feature, but I'm not qualified to respond to that yet. What Google does that Yahoo's MeMe did not is look at what people really want in addition to pure micro-blogging functionality.
It's cool now
What's cool now? Aggregation and geo-based social networking. Aggregation is popping up all over, not just in Buzz. Gist.com has a very good way of looking at it, even Plaxo and LinkedIn are helping business social net-workers keep it together and not waste TOO much time. Buzz brings aggregation to an area we all like. We want our information fast, in snippets, and just the information that is interesting. By connecting sites ( more to come I assume ), you can truly have it all in once place. While I've read the rumors of all the geo-based functionality and Buzz's intrusion into foursquares space, I've yet to see it materialize in any notable way, but I believe wholeheartedly it's coming. I've been very excited about geo-tagging and geo-based social networking, at times it's quite distracting when I'm in a store "checking-in" to five apps on my phone.
It's here now and will have the same ebbs and flows of all new social media technologies. Eventually Buzz will find it's place.
Predictions
Where Buzz lacks, I'm assured it will pick up. I believe that Buzz wont be as big as Google hopes and it will not kill Twitter. Instead it will be used as another Twitter feed-client with some added convenience and feed value. I believe Google is banking heavily on the data coming across their servers and this will be used in trending and analytics for their advertising customers. They likely will introduce a new advertising service tailored to the feeds that give marketers a bigger picture of their brand in the public eye and reputation management type tools. Also interesting will be how Buzz integrates with Google Docs and Wave. In the ECM space it could be a complete set of collaboration tools bringing companies up to the speed of technology ( I know how many security doors I just opened there ).
My opinions will develop more and more as I use the technology. But for now I will let the Buzz sink in and hope not to get too sick from it.
From birds to bees, Google introduces Buzz. If you are surprised about Buzz, then stick with the afternoon news for your technology updates. No big surprise that it exists, nor its mode of delivery, Gmail. Google was turned on by Twitter very quickly. How could they possible resist in making their own?
Does it compete?
Yes, of course it does. A common strategy of any company is to piggy back off the current leader to take market share. It appears friendly enough, like a nice little aggregator for your Twitter and other "sites" all in a place you are very comfortable, Gmail. "Riding coat tails" is a common business practice and in the end usually results in direct competition. Make no doubt about it Google is going after Twitter. They want the users, but most importantly they want the data. There are two sides to micro-blogging, the user facing functionality and what the usage of the product generates: DATA. Lots and lots of DATA. In my mind the feeds found on Buzz, Twitter, Facebook etc. are more valuable than the product itself. But without users you don't get the feed. Additionally the feed data has a demographic associated with it. For example, Twitter has a clear audience, its not my sister, my niece, and definitely not my mom, it's co-workers, software companies, tech heads and most middle ages. So what happens if you seek a way to broaden the demographic? It is the only compelling reason to create a competing product.
Enter Buzz
I'm not appalled by Buzz, as my first paragraph would probably have you believe. I'm more interested in where it goes. I am frightened by the additional loss of privacy, but if you put yourself out there then it's a choice. I personally do not feel the user experience in Gmail is great, just as I felt about Twitter's page. I suspect very quickly clients will be made available as soon as the Google God gives its blessing and we all make enough sacrifices. I also believe that very quickly the service will take a blow due to needless SEO and blatant marketing campaigns. For a time I felt this activity was killing Twitter, but they did a good job mitigating it and we will see if Google can do the same. Right now Buzz is so-so with some really cool features. It fulfills my need to horde data ( Google has this complex too ), and be efficient. One feature I'm very excited about in Buzz is the comment feature. I can now more rapidly and easily follow a conversation thread. I think I like the "like" feature, but I'm not qualified to respond to that yet. What Google does that Yahoo's MeMe did not is look at what people really want in addition to pure micro-blogging functionality.
It's cool now
What's cool now? Aggregation and geo-based social networking. Aggregation is popping up all over, not just in Buzz. Gist.com has a very good way of looking at it, even Plaxo and LinkedIn are helping business social net-workers keep it together and not waste TOO much time. Buzz brings aggregation to an area we all like. We want our information fast, in snippets, and just the information that is interesting. By connecting sites ( more to come I assume ), you can truly have it all in once place. While I've read the rumors of all the geo-based functionality and Buzz's intrusion into foursquares space, I've yet to see it materialize in any notable way, but I believe wholeheartedly it's coming. I've been very excited about geo-tagging and geo-based social networking, at times it's quite distracting when I'm in a store "checking-in" to five apps on my phone.
It's here now and will have the same ebbs and flows of all new social media technologies. Eventually Buzz will find it's place.
Predictions
Where Buzz lacks, I'm assured it will pick up. I believe that Buzz wont be as big as Google hopes and it will not kill Twitter. Instead it will be used as another Twitter feed-client with some added convenience and feed value. I believe Google is banking heavily on the data coming across their servers and this will be used in trending and analytics for their advertising customers. They likely will introduce a new advertising service tailored to the feeds that give marketers a bigger picture of their brand in the public eye and reputation management type tools. Also interesting will be how Buzz integrates with Google Docs and Wave. In the ECM space it could be a complete set of collaboration tools bringing companies up to the speed of technology ( I know how many security doors I just opened there ).
My opinions will develop more and more as I use the technology. But for now I will let the Buzz sink in and hope not to get too sick from it.
Labels: aggregator, Buzz, facebook, feeds, foursquare, future, geo-based, gmail, Google, linkedin, meme, micro-blog, plaxo, seo, social networking, technology, twitter, yahoo
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