Google Buzz Vs FAcebook

Yes, again, it sounds a lot like FriendFeed. But it has a critical component that FriendFeed never had prior to its acquisition by Facebook: a massive installed user base. Maybe you missed the key bit of wording above: it resides inside of Gmail. Rather than trying to build its own new social service from scratch, Google is making Buzz a key part of their email service (right below the Inbox tab) that 176 million unique visitors each month, according to comScore.
 
Social Curation

Buzz also wants to differentiate itself another way: social curation. As Mike wrote about the other night, the social web right now is largely a mess. There’s simply too much going on, and no one is really working to sort it all out. Google is trying to do that with Buzz by allowing you to import items from services like Twitter, but only show you the best ones. For example, Google says it will hide quick messages like “brb.” The plan is to also auto-collapse items that don’t have a lot of comment activity.
 
For now, this data is sadly only a one-way street. That is to say, you won’t be able to update your Twitter account from Google Buzz, we’re told. But Google seems to be indicating that this functionality will be included eventually, and that overall they’d like the product to be as open as possible. And yes, there will be plenty of APIs. But one company noticeably absent from all this talk of importing and exporting data is the 800-pound social gorilla in the room: Facebook.
 
Listening to Google tell it, you’d almost think Buzz is just as much of a mobile product, as a social tool inside Gmail. And it just may be. Google is heavily touting the ability to use Buzz immediately on the mobile web if you’re using an Android phone or an iPhone. The reason they’re singling out those two phones is that their HTML5-compatible browsers support location. Location is a big component of Buzz on the go because Google not only want users to update their statuses, but to tag them with where they are when they leave it.
 
And while Google has its own location app, Latitude, Buzz works a lot more like Foursquare in that you select places to say where you are rather than a specific coordinate. This is an extension of the Places pages in Google Maps that were launched late last year. The use of Buzz alongside these locations make them ever more powerful. You can search to see only the Buzzes written from certain places, for example.
 
Buzz will also work within the Maps app on certain phones (such as Android phones, but not the iPhone — at least, not yet). And it will work inside the Google Search apps on the iPhone and Android. Perhaps the coolest thing about that is that you can use the voice search functionality to speak your buzz update if you just say “post buzz” and then say your buzz out loud.
 
Social Issues

Some big question marks remain for Google. First of all, one big reason they’ve flopped in the past with social implementation is because they seemed to have fundamentally flawed views about what a social graph should be. For example, when they first tried to make Google Reader more social, they automatically ported over your Gmail contacts to give you friends. The problem with this was that they auto-chose people who you were in contact with often based on emails and IMs. But in some case that may be your boss, or someone else that you’re not actually friends with.
 
With Buzz, Google is giving users more granular controls for friend settings, but they’re still suggesting people based on your Gmail social graph, which may or may not reflect your actual desired social graph.

Also, believe it or not, there are plenty of people without Gmail accounts. Are they going to sign up and start using an email service just because of Buzz? People certainly haven’t started using Yahoo Mail just because it added social features.
 
The One Stop Shop

Another problem Google has had when it comes to social elements is that they’ve never really had one place to let users share all their social data. Now they have that with Google profiles, which apparently, Google Buzz will be built into. Still, because Profiles are separate from Buzz in Gmail, it might be a little tricky for some users to figure out.
 
Complexity

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.
 
Another thing is if someone comments on one of your buzzes, it will leave the Buzz area of Gmail and go into the Inbox area of Gmail, so you know someone is talking to you. That actually sounds pretty cool, and even better, you can reply right from there (another feature taken from FriendFeed), but I could also see that getting a bit confusing for some users.
 
The Battle

Without having had a chance to play with it yet, it would seem that the core idea behind Buzz is to take on Twitter and Facebook as the easiest way to share content online. Google is offering a number of compelling features such as smart curation (it gets better as you tell it what you like and what you don’t), and a rich mobile experience including location.
 
Because of the features it adds on to what Twitter does, and its overall look, it’s hard not to compare Buzz to FriendFeed. That service was arguably the better product than Twitter, but never took off in the same way for whatever reason (though I would argue that simplicity was a big factor). You could say the same thing for Twitter rivals Pownce and Jaiku (which Google actually bought) in the past. But by adding it to Gmail, Google is giving Buzz a great weapon to succeed where all of those others could not.
 
The big question is: will Gmail users buy into this quick sharing? Google thinks so because it’s a part of the evolution from email, to IM, to status updates. It’s also, in their eyes, a part of the evolution to the next step, Google Wave. So far, the public has proven to be not ready for Wave yet. But Buzz might be the perfect tool in getting people to think about communicating in a way beyond email and IM. Or it may be another misstep in Google’s social quest.
 
While I like to think I’m reasonably on top of tech trends I didn’t know about Google Buzz until last evening. (shock horror – I know.) Anyhoo, a quick trawl on the internet showed me that Buzz is:

Our belief is that organizing the social information on the web — finding relevance in the noise — has become a large-scale challenge, one that Google’s experience in organizing information can help solve. We’ve recently launched innovations like real-time search and Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step with the introduction of a new product, Google Buzz.

Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most.
 
However, it didn’t take me more than 20 minutes of having Buzz plugged into my email to realize: I DON’T WANT THIS SHIT. I may not be alone. Despite the claim to help me: ‘to start conversations about the things you find interesting,’ it does nothing of the sort. Instead, it adds in any ’stuff’ that people it has decided I am following put into their Buzz (a bit like Twitter) along with any other accounts that Google has linked via their profiles such as Flickr, Twitter, Google Reader, assorted blogs….the list goes on. In other words it is aggregating a pile of stuff and lobbing it over the wall into my GMail.
 
Now – don’t get me wrong. I like my friends. A lot. But I’m buggered if I need or want to know their EVERY movement on the Internet. I’m pretty sure the same feeling is reciprocated. But it gets worse.

According to Silicon Valley Insider:

The problem is that — by default — the people you follow and the people that follow you are made public to anyone who looks at your profile.

In other words, before you change any settings in Google Buzz, someone could go into your profile and see the people you email and chat with most.
 
Are you shitting me? Apparently not. In the past I have said that Google pays scant attention to creating sensible privacy policies. With Buzz, they’ve blown the whole shaky edifice apart.

It seems I may be able to moderate what Buzz exposes. In the last two hours, Google says that 10 more people are following me. I don’t get a choice to accept or reject, which I do with Twitter and Facebook. However, I have found that Buzz can be turned off. Google? I’m outta here.
 
By the way – if you are a Google Apps for Enterprise user then watch for when Google introduces Buzz to your service. Make sure you REALLY understand what it will and will not do. The last thing you want is for Buzz to effectively mine and expose your internal contacts list and blast that out to the world at large.
 
What Google Buzz allows you to do is share updates, videos, photos, RSS feeds “and more”. If you think this sounds a lot like Facebook you’re right…sort of.

The difference between Google Buzz and Facebook is that Google Buzz is integrated into your Gmail account which means that you can share updates and other pieces of information with the people who you already email and chat with within Gmail.

When you add a website link within Buzz, it will automatically pull photos from that link that you can share, plays videos “inline” meaning you don’t have to leave Gmail in order to view the video.

What I found most interesting was that you can connect to sites “that you already use” such as Picasa, Flickr, Google Reader and Twitter.

But what struck me the most was that this list of “what you already use” programs, is that Facebook is missing.

And, perhaps what is most interesting of all, is that Buzz shows you posts that “may interest you” or that “are popular among your friends”.

Now, I’m not exactly sure where the line falls with the whole “posts that may interest you” bit…perhaps it will be advertising? Could we be looking at a potential new market for PPC? I honestly don’t know but it was such a broad statement that it leads me to believe that Google left it broad for a very good reason.

When you first get Buzz within your Gmail account it will “auto-follow” those that you chat and email the most.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I do happen to send (and receive) quite a few emails to people for business related reasons through Gmail and really don’t want these people to see my status updates. Status updates, like in Facebook for example, can be set to lists. Does Buzz offer lists? Again, I don’t know (yet).

But…this post isn’t all about just what I don’t know about Google Buzz…here’s some things that I do know:

There’s an app for your iPhone or Android.

You can visit Buzz at Google Buzz.

Buzz will find your location (if you give it permission to) so that others can see where you’re located at any given moment.

Back to speculations…

Now, there’s quite a few people that think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread and others who believe it will be a total flop.

Personally, I am apprehensive about it. I like Facebook – I prefer Facebook simply because I like to keep things separated. All of my friends are on Facebook – and these aren’t folks that I necessairly email or chat with in my Gmail account.

Plus, my personal Facebook account isn’t necessarily “professional”. At Facebook I can create professional groups or pages where I do discuss more professional topics…but within Gmail, everyone’s grouped together.

To be honest, I rarely use email any longer to communicate with friends and family since…drum roll please…they’re all on Facebook (even my mother).

So I’m not personally excited about it – because it means one more extra thing I’ll have to keep track of and use. And frankly, Facebook does just fine for me.

All that said, where then does Google Wave come into play?

It was my knowledge that Google Wave was the way to share information like videos, links, photos and such with people who were located in your Wave.

So I don’t understand the difference between Buzz and Wave. Do you? If you do, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
 
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