Yard Associates Independent Web Analytics Consultancy

Too much Buzz?

Posted: 17 February 2010 in News buzz, Google, google buzz, social network, social networking by Paul

Following the launch of the Google Buzz service, a number of privacy concerns have been raised about the way the service has been rolled out by Google. Notably, Buzz is ‘forced’ upon you as a Gmail user, and the solution was able to utilise your address book full of contacts to generate lists of Buzz users, lists which were available to other Buzz users and followers. So how have Google allowed themselves to get caught up in a row that should surely have been avoided, following the historic string of privacy concerns of Facebook users regarding their personal information use?

It appears that the answer is in the rushed attempt to turn a popular email service into a social network capable of competing with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. As an industry controlling data from millions of web users, the social network industry was too big for Google to miss out on; however, you can’t help but think that the opportunity may have been missed in this case. Unless…

What is currently true of Google is that the company now commands an impressive set of products which focus around search and communication. Therefore, it is easy to imagine a future iteration of Buzz, which, building on its current form, improves on its integration of Blogger, Calendar, Docs, Picasa, Google Mail, Google Maps, Google Search…and so on to provide a solution that can not only compete with Facebook, but surpasses it in its functionality and availability, and, more importantly, usability. The super user experience, if you will, all held online by Google. Now there’s a strategy for you!