A new set of social networking services (five of them) named Google Buzz were introduced this AM at the Googleplex in Mt. View, CA. Several reviews and comments follow along with links to read the full text of each article.
We’re all familiar with the challenge of separating work time — which almost always involves email — from “social time,” and Google is taking somewhat of a risk by combining the two with Buzz.
As I said above, I don’t see this as a Twitter or Facebook-killer. If anything, it seems like an attempt for Google to keep some of its own users from bothering to try Facebook or Twitter if they haven’t done so already — and it may succeed to some degree in that way. But I don’t see anything so new and innovative here that existing Facebook or Twitter users will be compelled to switch.
Danny Sullivan Adds at SEL:
I’ll add that while Buzz is clearly aimed at competing with Twitter and Facebook, Google’s at pains to stress that they see Buzz as essential to Google’s “organizing the world’s information” goal.
To me, the biggest challenge Buzz seems to face so far is that feels disorganized. It integrates with some Google products; it doesn’t integrate with others. It seems like an incomplete patchwork — plus it doesn’t really live yet as its own standalone product.
Speaking of complexity, overall it’s another issue that Google Buzz may run into. Twitter works because it’s so simple, if you have a public account, your tweets go to anyone who is following you. Buzz is not that simple. There can be public or private buzzes. The plan is to also have buzzes for enterprise and educational users. In those cases, public buzzes may only be available within your company or school, while private would still be private to other individuals in your network. You can see how the social graph is starting to get a little more complicated.
“The stream of messages has become a torrent,” said Bradley Horowitz, a vice president of product development at Google. “There is no way to parse that amount of information that ranges from the ridiculous to the sublime. We think this has become a Google-scale problem.”
The message here is that Google intends to apply its algorithmic smarts to social networking and do away with the gunk – “A good day,” “Apples are yummy,” “Jasper is soooo funny” – that’s slowing us down.
From Jared Newman, PCWorld
Excellent overview of how the five core features along with a two minute video.
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