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Why I love Google Buzz (and why you should too!)

By Monica O'Brien on February 11th in Blogging 36 comments

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The big news this week is Google Buzz and the questions are numerous:

Is this a [insert social network here] killer?
What do I do with Buzz?
Is the service redundant when we have Twitter and Facebook already?

I love Google Buzz. I checked my email all day and signed up for the service within minutes of getting activated. As I used it for the first time, I felt a tiny ounce of how I imagine a drug addict feels when they shoot up. Yes, it’s that addictive. After playing with the service for a little while, I wanted to offer my initial thoughts on the service and what I think it means for individuals, companies, and the social digital industry as a whole.

Why I love Google Buzz (and why you should too!)

No character limit – 140 characters on Twitter is tiring. It’s arbitrary and it leaves less room for true conversation. At this point, Twitter is mostly a directory to the good stuff. Google Buzz is the good stuff.
No link to click – With Google Buzz, you don’t have to leave your window to see all the cool information that’s coming across your screen. In fact, it’s not a traffic-driver at all, but rather a data manager.
Threaded conversation – Twitter’s lack of threading is a burden on the user, and has made the platform messily loud. Google Buzz is much quieter because you can pick and choose which conversations you want to follow.
Ability to share privately or publicly – This is a feature that is not available on Twitter and that is mind-blowingly complicated on Facebook. Google Buzz simplifies settings for who you share each item with, making it as intuitive as emailing.
Ability to Mute certain posts without muting all posts or unfollowing the person – On other networks you have the option to follow or unfollow, hide all updates or hide no updates, etc. With Google Buzz, you can mute a specific conversation, but still keep up with the person’s future updates.
Subtle follower notification – Unlike Twitter, you don’t receive obnoxious emails every single time someone follows you. Many of us have turned those off, which means I so rarely know if someone new and important is following me. In Google Buzz, there is a subtle pop-up that shows you who has followed you since you last checked, and gives you a one-click way to follow each person back if you desire.
Subtle inbox notification – Some people complained about this, but you can turn it off. Basically, if you want notification on what is happening in Buzz, the message thread appears in your inbox every time there is a new message.
No extra accounts – I didn’t have to sign-up with a new username or password. Google Buzz also found many of my other social accounts and gave me a one-click option to add them.
Automatically finds friends for you – I started out with 53 friends. That made it easy to jump right in and start conversing.
Mobility – Google Buzz works with many smartphones. It still isn’t integrated with BlackBerry as far as I know, but then again what social media lover has one of those still? Furthermore, Google Buzz lets you write comments about specific locations as you are out and about. I haven’t tested this feature yet, but from the posts I’ve seen it’s pretty neat.
Fun stuff floats to the top – Rather than reading in real-time like Twitter, and similar to reading the Top News in Facebook, Google Buzz floats the most engaging conversations to the top. The difference between Buzz and Facebook is that the “Top News” is probably more relevant. Facebook’s top news tends to be “9 of your friends joined Can this pickle get more fans than Nickleback?” or “Jackie Kennedy sent you a Farmville Crocodile!” Google Buzz floats less superficial news to the top: like “Journalism Fellowships Adapt to Meet Economic, Digital Challenges” and “Mice Endure Electrical Shocks for Chocolate”
Authenticity is currency – You can’t get any closer to being yourself online than your primary email address. There is no way to hide behind usernames under Google Buzz because your entire network is based on the people you email with the most. Even if you create a separate account, you will have a hard time finding friends. This may be a good thing for combating spammers too (though they tend to find their way onto any platform).
General focus on conversation – If I could sum up Google Buzz in one word, it would be “Conversation.” The service is set up for some serious talking, and the conversations are addictive due to their integration with email. Unlike other social networks, I don’t think Google will sell out to things like social ads, Mob wars, and PayPerTweet services. Why? Because they don’t need to. Google already has a business model; it doesn’t need to make one up for the sake of pleasing investors.

3 Ways Individuals Can Use Google Buzz

To conduct impromptu research – Google Buzz is the ultimate research tool. It’s better than Twitter because there is more room for full responses and everyone who responds can see the other people’s points. That means people can build off each others ideas, rather than sending in their one-off (140 character) answer and calling it a day.
To write blog posts – Dan Schawbel asked a question and received 50+ detailed responses. He could literally copy and paste the entire conversation into a blog editor and hit “Publish.”
To collaborate privately – I love that you can have a private chat with a small number of people and let them and only them see the comment thread. Sure, this sounds suspiciously like sending an email, but it’s simpler and more conversational.

3 Ways Companies Can Use Google Buzz

Internally, to quickly share ideas, pictures, and video (without links) – Google Buzz is like Yammer but a million times better. It’s a chat room that you can configure any way you want.
To find niche influencers through the Buzz search engine – Search for your brand on Google Buzz and see what people are talking about. Track the whole conversation right there in your Buzz window, quickly add your 2 cents, then quickly find every other social profile that influencer has on the web. Or just follow all the influencer’s accounts right there in Buzz.
To aggregate full social profiles of anyone with a Gmail address – Hinted at in the last bullet point. There is a new service called FlowTown that creates full social profiles for a fee. While Google Buzz doesn’t have all the features of FlowTown, I wouldn’t be surprised if marketers started using it this way.

Services that Google Buzz Can Probably Replace if You Let It

Twitter – Twitter can’t hold a flame to Google Buzz, period. The service made a smart move by integrating, but I can’t see myself messing with Twitter anymore now that I have an elegant new solution.
Yammer – Yeah, this one is toast. Why log into a separate network to share information with your coworkers when you can do it right there in your email? I realize that no Fortune 500′s use Gmail… then again, they aren’t the ones who use Yammer either.
Friendfeed – Well, technically the Facebook acquisition killed Friendfeed. But in case it were still kicking, Google Buzz has now twisted the knife.
FourSquare et al. – Google Buzz is prompting users to not only check in from their locations via mobile, but also to write a review of the location! Then lots of people comment on it. FourSquare and it’s competitors are dead meat if Buzz takes off.
Social bookmarking sites – Unless you use tagging support, you don’t need most social bookmarking sites because Buzz integrates so well with Google Reader. I can find all of my favorite links just by looking at what I’ve posted to my Google Reader blog. I can also find what other people are reading because the best stuff bubbles up to the top of Buzz. After all, who cares what the Digg crowd thinks is cool? A better indicator is what your like-minded friends think is cool.
Blogs? – You can post full blog posts in Google Buzz, then people can comment on them. Why mess with a setting up and designing a blog again? I’m interested to see how people will use this feature in the future.

*Note: If you want more ideas for how individuals and/or companies can use Google Buzz, there will surely be blog posts out in the next couple days… or you could simply Google any of these companies above for ideas. If the idea works on Twitter, it will probably work on Google Buzz too, and so on for any of the networks I’ve listed.

Services that Google Buzz Cannot Replace Yet

Facebook – Profiles, photos, fan pages, groups, and pretty much everything else besides the Live Feed are better on Facebook than on Google. Sorry, this is soooo not a Facebook killer.
LinkedIn – Until Google provides better profile support, LinkedIn will continue to rule the roost in professional networking.
Slideshare et. al – Google doesn’t integrate presentation slides yet, which is unfortunate. I’d love to see it support viewing Google Docs within the system.

Those are my initial thoughts on the service. Have you tried it yet? What do you think?

Tagged as: Blogging, Conversation, facebook, Foursquare, Google, Google Buzz, social media, social media marketing, Twitter

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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }

ambrose February 11, 2010 at 12:58 am: The way i see Twitter is that it's deliberately low-tech. 140 characters because it's based on the SMS limit (and i appreciate this A LOT), and email notifications because it doesn't require fancy graphical browsers with Javascript. (I know, email is getting less and less useful these days, but it still is a reasonable choice that isn't really that arbitrary.) And I think Twitter technically does have threading, or—okay—rather a framework to support threads that's severely underused right now.

I don't think choosing public/private per post is an innovation (e.g., Xanga has had it for a long time). So I guess if it's innovative in any way maybe it's is in the combination.

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Monica O'Brien February 11, 2010 at 8:14 am: I thought SMS was 160?

Anyway, I still think Google Buzz is an improvement over Twitter. Public/private per post is not an innovation (Facebook did it first) but the way Google does it is better IMO.

Overall, Google Buzz is not innovative. They are banking on a sleek design and their vast built-in user base. Like Gmail, they are hoping that they “did it better” than everyone else. (Obviously, I think they have ).

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Jay Wigley February 11, 2010 at 9:16 am: I can see both sides of the 140 character sword: as an editor, I love the challenge of being both efficient and poetic within the limit, but if the natural length of what you're writing is nowhere near 140 characters, Buzz is better. That said, I am very skeptical about Buzz replacing what is almost mainstream blogging. So much of the blogging world is more than just the words; most bloggers love all the design work–endlessly tweaking every element–as much as the writing; some, more.

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ambrose February 11, 2010 at 9:55 am: Yes, SMS is 160. They reserve 20 for the user name that you have to type when you reply, which I think is fair.

I still think someone else did private/public per post first. Xanga had it before I had a Facebook account, and when I signed up for Facebook you can't make your status changes “private”. Per-post privacy control is a rather recent thing on Facebook, unless you agree with Facebook that photos and blog posts are statuses (something that I disagree with).

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ambrose February 11, 2010 at 10:03 am: I agree too that blogging is not just about words. Site design is part of the experience when it comes to reading blogs, whether personal or otherwise. Of course, for some blogs where commenting is a pain, I'd love to have some way to comment from Buzz (or something else)….

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Monica O'Brien February 11, 2010 at 10:07 am: I thought the 20 was included in the 140 – at least it is on the Twitter website.

Xanga did private/public first – but Xanga is (was) ultimately a blog service. Also, if I remember correctly the private/public feature sucked. You could only pick 10 friends to be in an exclusive group, and you couldn't choose based on a specific post.

Not sure if it has improved as I don't know many people who still use Xanga/Livejournal.

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Monica O'Brien February 11, 2010 at 10:08 am: That is true. Also, Facebook has essentially the same features and has not replaced blogging. Personally, I'd rather read the full post in one place (like Google Reader) and only visit the website if I need to comment.

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Monica O'Brien February 11, 2010 at 10:10 am: Yep, commenting on Buzz is easy and addictive – I wish more people would use standard services to handle their comments.

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DShan February 11, 2010 at 12:36 pm: Twitter left the extra 20 for usernames. 160 SMS = 140+20username.

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ambrose February 11, 2010 at 12:38 pm: Hmm. That wasn't my impression. I had already had the impression that the 20 is not included in the 140. Let me double check…

Yup. http://help.twitter.com/forums/10711/entries/15367 is pretty clear about 140 being 160 – 20.

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ambrose February 11, 2010 at 12:42 pm: Yes, Xanga is really basically a blog service, so I was comparing really Buzz to Xanga pulse and not Xanga weblog. Though pulse has the annoying feature that Private means only you can read it =P

But the 10 friend limit is not strictly true. If you pay a subscription then the limit is removed (obviously they want us to =P). And you also have some sort of control as to what Public means, and I don't think Buzz has that kind of control—yet.

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DShan February 11, 2010 at 12:48 pm: I don't even know where to start, but I think claiming this kills these services is incredibly jaded and close-minded.

The functionality and user cases for Twitter don't map into Buzz. Comparing bookmark solutions to Reader is asinine. Replacing the blog? How does the follow/following relationship inside of Buzz relate an any way to an audience/readership relationship? Pull down this site and replicate in the Buzz environment!

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the platform (especially the underlying stack architecture, which is the really exciting part) and find it useful, but acting like it'll replace everyone's need for tools that by their nature create unique and necessary uses is short sighted.

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Monica O'Brien February 11, 2010 at 12:48 pm: Gotcha, I learned something new today. I guess I never use Twitter via mobile, so I had no idea. I just know that the username is included in the 140 char when you update Twitter via the website.

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Monica O'Brien February 11, 2010 at 12:49 pm: Another new thing – see, I don't use Xanga anymore so did not know about Xanga Pulse. And I completely forgot about paid Xanga services

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Monica O'Brien February 11, 2010 at 12:55 pm: Yeah, I hear ya. That's why I wrote “Services that Google Buzz Can Probably Replace if You Let It”

It will mostly kill these services for me, truthfully. I'm sure other people have different systems of managing the work they do online, but the features I use on all of those sites are replicated in Google Buzz.

Blogs are the one thing I questioned (indicated by the ? mark next to the header) – though I do think I'll be reading far fewer blogs on their actual websites. But I hate messing with blog designs and stuff, in fact I hired someone to do that for me from now on – for me it's just about the message and the conversation that follows.

Thanks for the comment!

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DShan February 11, 2010 at 1:04 pm: Great article…I appreciate the perspective.

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ambrose February 11, 2010 at 1:18 pm: I don't understand the part of it replacing Twitter though. There are a couple of things.

First, does Buzz use (or “public” Buzz use) map exactly to Twitter use? I have a feeling that it may not map exactly. Even automatic Facebook -> Twitter posting is not a good idea, I am really skeptical that you can just kill Twitter like that, as if no one ELSE would continue to use it.

I also have some reservations about the significance of Buzz' existing user base. Not everyone has a Gmail account, and I know personally people who use Hotmail or Yahoo but don't have the inclination to sign up with Gmail, and I don't see how Buzz will make them sign up. Even if these people sign up, their Gmail identity is not going to be their “primary email address”. This sounds more like “another status update service” and not a killer of anything.

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philsimonsystems February 12, 2010 at 6:49 am: It's funny. I just posted today about the importance of speaking to actual people and how I saw the limits of some of these new tools. I had played a bit with Buzz but not for terribly long.

This is a great post. I am reconsidering my decision to unBuzz myself…

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Ari Herzog February 12, 2010 at 11:43 pm: How many more blog posts do I have to see that compare Google Buzz to Twitter? Just saying. Why is it necessary to compare?

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ambrose February 13, 2010 at 2:08 am: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/12/google...

If this comes true, the “primary email” identity will soon become uncoupled from Buzz. Personally, I think the privacy leak is bad enough for some (including myself) to avoid Buzz instead of embracing it. But I never thought that this leak is so bad that it can jeopardize physical safety.

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Monica O'Brien February 13, 2010 at 11:50 am: Ambrose,

You bring up a really good point about not everyone having a Google account (though it's hard to imagine how people wouldn't, when there are so many products out there that require one). It's like Yahoo – I have an account there but don't use it for email, just use it for services like Flickr and Delicious. I don't think not using Gmail for primary is going to completely ruin the chance that someone signs up for Buzz.

I really really love Christopher Penn's post about why Google Buzz makes sense for Google, and how people will use it in the future (to weed out the noise is basically what he says). You can read it here to see what I mean: http://www.christopherspenn.com/2010/02/11/why-...

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Monica O'Brien February 13, 2010 at 11:51 am: You should! I think the key to liking Buzz is not following too many people. You follow the people close to you and follow the people who provide the best, most relevant information. It's not going to be a numbers game like Twitter (I don't think).

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Monica O'Brien February 13, 2010 at 11:52 am: Haha, I guess I can't control what you see. I compare it to Twitter because I think it's superior, and I have been wanting something like Twitter but without the self-promotional BS for awhile now. That's just me though

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Monica O'Brien February 13, 2010 at 11:53 am: Yeah, there is a privacy leak. At the same time, if you are a blogger then you aren't worried about people having your email address (or at least I'm not).

I'm of the mindset though that there will be no anonymity online within the next 10 years, maybe even 5.

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Donna Brewington White February 14, 2010 at 10:39 pm: I'm still testing out Google Buzz. Skeptical at first, but the intrigue is growing. This is very helpful! Thanks.

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John Head February 18, 2010 at 12:15 am: all of your reasons are thought thru and you give good examples, but you are focusing on the technology. Here is the problem with buzz – it's not where the conversation is. Let's compare number of users on Twitter and Facebook vs Buzz. Buss is just for the early adaptor right now. Twitter and Facebook are successes because they got outside of that, and reached the average user. When my father is on facebook and my young cousin is on Twitter; that is a success. And Buzz offers nothing for that non-techy user. Think of how FourSquare is changing the location space almost over night. Brightkite has done this for a long time, and Latitude has been there for a while. But the fun aspect of FourSquare has reached out to the average person. FourSquare will be around for a long time because of the outreach to Bravo and Zagat and super smart marketing.

Until Google can find a way to get rid of the noise and bring in the typical user, Buzz will just be another FriendFeed. The techies will love it and the rest of the world will not even notice it.

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Suruna February 18, 2010 at 5:52 pm: Nothing esoteric, I would simply like to compliment this article.

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Monica O'Brien February 20, 2010 at 6:00 am: Glad you enjoyed it! Let me know your thoughts as you continue to use the service.

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Monica O'Brien February 20, 2010 at 6:04 am: John, I disagree. Many of my friends who don't use services like Twitter really like Buzz, because it's simple and it's in their email. I also think Buzz conversations are basically addictive, because they appear in your inbox.

Also, FourSquare did not change the location-based space and has definitely not reached the average person. Not sure why you think that. FourSquare has barely reached the Twitter crowd.

The different between Buzz and FriendFeed is Google. Everyone knows Google. That's why it is not another FriendFeed.

Thanks for your thoughts!

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undisclosed identity February 21, 2010 at 12:07 am: “or at least I'm not”

You're an amazingly self-centered and immature person. Plenty of other bloggers are concerned about anonymity. It's a fundamental feature of the internet and is not going away.

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Rich February 26, 2010 at 3:57 am: I think Google Buzz is still an improvement over Twitter.I think the privacy leak is bad enough for some to avoid Buzz instead of embracing it.

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Recruiting Animal March 12, 2010 at 6:45 am: 140 characters is a gift to mankind. Gives you an oppty to get to the point.

It’s not often used that way and that doesn’t bode well for any length of communication.

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