Canine

if you don't already know, Google has just launched its own social network site to compete with Facebook. It runs right in the Gmail interface and has a few unique features, like pinpointing the location of users who post from their cells. It looks pretty cool, but I wonder how its going to fare. Facebook is to social networking what Google is to search engines.

What are your thoughts on it?

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Xerxys

It will probably pick up. I will not set up an account because my gmail email is very crucial to keeping my spam sanity.

ratbastid

I already use Google Reader, as do many of my friends, and we share stuff on that all the time.

I suspect that Buzz is going to be a turbo version of Reader sharing. In which case I'll probably use the hell out of it. But I can't say yet, because it hasn't hit my account yet.

Shauk

yeah it just activated on my gmail login. it was like OMG BUZZ, and I was like, eh, ok. Now we wait.

Plan9

Great...

All your life are belong to Google.

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SecretMethod70

As with many recent Google products, I like the idea but I think the implementation is poor.

For one thing, responses on Buzz are automatically sent to your GMail inbox, and there's no apparent way to change that. Thankfully, Lifehacker has posted a solution, but the Google developers should have known people wouldn't want that. This isn't the first example of Google lacking foresight with their changes: there was a minor uproar last summer when they modified the labeling system in GMail and disabled right-side labels. It took months before they implemented a "hide read labels" feature so users could recover the lost screen space by forcing labels back on the left side with everything else.

What's worse with Buzz is that they're automatically connecting you to a "starter" group of followers, supposedly based on how frequently you contact people. This has led to people being automatically connected to landlords, former stalkers, and other people they do not desire to share things with (actual examples from Google's help forum which I have been reading). What really makes this upsetting to me is that Google had the EXACT SAME ISSUE about 3 years ago when they made shared items in Google Reader more public. People were upset about it then, and they're understandably upset about it now.

It's more upsetting to me to see that Google has not learned from any of its past mistakes than it is to see the implementation of Buzz is not perfect.

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MexicanOnABike

I still don't know what this is. Isn't there a little youtube vid that explains this?

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SecretMethod70

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Cynthetiq

eh... don't like it. I wanted gmail for the email abilities and solution, not a social media type deal.

---------- Post added at 09:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 PM ----------

Oh joy!!!

Disabling Buzz - Gmail Help

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Xerxys

^^ lol

I was just about to post that very link. I enabled it just to see what it looks like then promptly sought out ways to disable it. The log in prompt asked me to log in automatically when I signed on.

lulu_mq

Hmmm. Doesn't seem like anything I would join. I already can't hardly stand my facebook account. lol. But when facebook ends up turning out like myspace... then I just might have a change of heart. =P

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Vigilante

Excellent! Killed that annoying shit

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jimmyjambam

No thanks!

Google Buzz Blows

Redlemon

I liked this description better:

I like the fact that Facebook is walled off, as long as your privacy settings are set correctly. If everyone switches to Buzz, perhaps I'll check it again later, but for now, I have it turned off.

And Cynthetiq: I got a notice in Google Reader that you were following me. I thought that was Buzz, but I guess it wasn't.

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SecretMethod70

Cute video, but it applies equally to Facebook

Buzz does have some serious privacy concerns though. Most can be fixed with a few tweaks here and there, but it's upsetting that Google lacked the foresight to set strong defaults in the first place. The automatic followers, for example, have created serious problems for some people that I've read about, including a few being put in contact with former stalkers and people they had restraining orders against. In other cases, it has resulted in the unwanted mixing of personal and professional contacts.

Fact is, Google Buzz seems like an interesting idea, and I'll leave it activated to see where it goes, but Google really dropped the ball when it comes to implementation. They set their sights on creating a ready-made social network and failed to think of all the implications associated with what they were doing.

---------- Post added at 01:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:24 PM ----------

I like this rant about Google Buzz on CNet: Google Buzz: Privacy nightmare | Molly Rants - CNET News

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Jove

Yes. And I like sharing articles I read and or enjoy through the google reader, so I have no issues with it as of yet.

dd3953

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SecretMethod70

More buzz about, erm... Buzz.

The Problem With Google Buzz Is That It Solves Google’s Problem At Your Expense | Mixergy - Online Business Tips from Successful Entrepreneurs

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Le temps détruit tout

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Willravel

Frankly, i really like it and I'm jumping in head first. I adore Google Reader and this social networking marriage to GR just makes sense to me. [MyTFPScreenName]@gmail.com in case anyone wants to follow the useless/interesting crap I post.

SecretMethod70

Google has already attempted to address some concerns. In some cases, I think they're still missing the point, but I'm glad to see they're responding to the users.

Official Gmail Blog: Millions of Buzz users, and improvements based on your feedback

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Cynthetiq

I think that's great and all, but here's one of the drawbacks that I find to be the biggest....

It's yet ONE more place that I have to be concerned about my privacy settings and constantly monitoring the every changing TOS and privacy policies.

Why not make BUZZ a stand alone object? To OPT IN instead of OPT OUT.

In my mind, it's the first baby step of being evil.

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Jetée

I've tried adding feeds to my Google Reader and it now updates at a ridiculous rate: since adding about 10 sites to my Reader's RSS capabilities back in January, I have now over 2,200 "new unread posts" in my Feedlist.
I used to only check it once a month (well, I still do that; perhaps an explanation of why I have so many articles in my 'new queue').

I don't know if I'll ever be able to fully use Buzz, but what I'd like to know is how to better use Google Reader, if they are both more or less the same in that you can discover and share ideas among friends and contacts in your social network. So, if I'm better able to handle GR, then maybe later (much later), I'll find the courage to jump up into Buzz.

How do I "share posts automatically" in Google, or as soon as I read them / like them?



Also, for those needing a better introduction /user's guide to Buzz:
How to Do Everything in Google Buzz (Including Turn It Off) | Work Smart | Fast Company

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SecretMethod70

Jetee: once a month? seriously? If you're going to be using RSS feeds and actually intend to read everything (or most things), you need to be checking at least once every few days.

And actually, Google Buzz might be easier for you since it's right in your GMail page. I assume you check your e-mail every day? If so, then you'll find it easy to also check Buzz every day.

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Jetée

No, I don't check my e-mail but every week. Kinda the reason I don't check my Reader as often either. I have way too many link, news, blog, interestingness aggregators at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if in a two-hour span, I'm exposed to 800+ links or topics as I try to get myself relevant for the new day.

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SecretMethod70

How in the world do you only check your e-mail once a week? More importantly, what else are you doing if not e-mail or Google Reader that you're being exposed to 800+ links a day?

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Jetée

Aggregators. New discoveries. Work. Random Clickings. Research.

MailOnline. Telegraph. InspirationRoom. Coloribus. AskOxford. Wikipedia.

It's a combination of things. Oh, and nobody e-mails anything important until I have a deadline, so my e-mail stays pretty uncluttered for months at a time.

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SecretMethod70

I guess I don't understand. The Daily Mail and the Telegraph both have RSS feeds which you can plug into Google Reader. What do you do on Wikipedia if you're not looking up something specific? If it's just the featured articles or somesuch, there are RSS feeds for that too. The point of Google Reader and other similar aggregators is to be a one stop shop for web viewing. You're not supposed to use 6 different aggregators to look at different things in each - you're supposed to pick one and stick with it

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Charlatan

I use Google Reader several times a day. The RSS feeds are replenishing constantly.

It's much better than print news and magazines as all the information is pushed to me.

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genuinegirly

I opted out. Let others work out the kinks before I dive in. I despise the new format Facebook has taken on to combat Buzz.

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SecretMethod70

For the record, Facebook has been working on their current format for quite awhile, long before Buzz was announced.

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Shauk

regardless, the new facebook format blows.

Before the notification box was part of the static bar along the bottom, now it's just some element that you can scroll off the top of your screen in to the useless abyss. As far as technical usability goes, it's a huge downgrade. considering it just introduced twice the amount of scrolling to check those 5 notifications vs what it used to be.

SecretMethod70

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"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

RangerJoe

Wow, I feel kind of dumb. I haven't used my gmail account in a couple of years and I have no idea what I'm doing. Buzz? Reader? WTF are these things?

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Jetée

Don't feel too discouraged.
I've had them enabled and check them every few weeks for the past three years, and I still don't know how to operate 'em (to the fullest capabilities).

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SecretMethod70

Don't feel dumb RangerJoe, Google Reader is a totally different service from GMail (like Google Calendar, Google Docs, etc). Google Buzz was just added to GMail accounts, so there's also no reason you'd know about that if you haven't signed into GMail for awhile. For your information though...

Google Reader - A web application to handle RSS feeds so that you don't have to check multiple different websites throughout the day. If, for example, you like to get news from CNN, read a few blogs, and listen to a daily podcast, you can subscribe to the RSS feed for each in Google Reader and then do it all from one website. They even just added the ability to monitor changes to websites that don't have an RSS feed (which is not many these days).


Google Buzz - Basically Google's new social network. Closer to Twitter than Facebook, but it has similarities to both. It's also VERY new, so they're making a lot of changes to it right now as people begin to use it. It shows up as just another label in your GMail menu, and when you click on it Buzz is opened in the space you normally see your e-mails. From there, you can share thoughts, links, and pictures. It also connects with many other sites, including Youtube, Flickr, Twitter, Google Reader, and Blogger, so that you can automatically share some things with your Buzz contacts if you wish.

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Kadin

I may be the only one, but I really like Buzz. Conceptually, at least. I despise the 140-character limit on Twitter, so Buzz wins just by virtue of not having it. Being able to directly embed links (no bit.ly / tinyurl crap) and media is nice, too.

Unfortunately, since they're far behind Twitter in number of users, it's really important that they get Twitter interoperability working. And unfortunately the Twitter gateway sucks. I tried to hook up my Twitter account to Buzz and it worked for less than a day, then just stopped working. I deleted and and recreated it in Buzz and it worked, again for a day, and then stopped working. That's pretty obnoxious.

I hope Buzz kills Twitter or at least forces Twitter to ditch the SMS-centric limitations, but in the meantime Google needs to do more to make its service play nice with others. I'm not going to update my status in multiple locations, and given that more friends use Twitter than Buzz, if Buzz can't take updates from Twitter, I'm probably unlikely to post much to Buzz.

I hope they get the problems worked out soon, but I'm disappointed that they pushed something out the door that's so clearly half-baked.