Feb

Revisiting Google Buzz :: How’s Your Experience Been?

By Robby

I found myself in the midst of a couple conversations about Google Buzz today and thought that my post on the subject could use a revisit. Hop over and read it if you haven’t already, and then let me tell you what I’ve encountered.

For me, Buzz went from being a sadly late attempt at a good idea to becoming some folks dark horse in the social media network to ending up simply useless in my own social networks. At the get-go, I really didn’t see how this effort from Google was worth the time and figured it would fall away slowly and be gracefully retired. Yet, not long after my post was written and my unflattering review of the service hit the blogosphere, there were news article aplenty that were alight with the promise and potential of the genius I had just spent 750 words tearing down.

Perhaps I was mistaken. Perhaps it was a “good for you but not for me” situation.

Or, perhaps the stats were a bit misleading. However many “buzzes” were piled up in the first few days now seem a bit unimportant. Ramming the Buzz service into every gmail user’s sidebar obviously made people curious and they responded by clicking away at Google’s newest invention. Fast forward 18 days, search “Buzz” in Google’s search and see the myriad of news surrounding this newest addition to the social media blitz; it is primarily neutral, full of small praise and large critique, and almost always indifferent. The feeling is: do we really need another social network?

My answer is absolutely no. And my reasoning? Over the last week I have observed every buzz that comes in when I check my gmail account. Want to know what I’ve noticed about each and every one? Sure you do! They are all 4-6 hour delayed, regurgitations of Twitter posts. All of them. Not one “buzz” I saw came from Buzz originally. Not one. What does that tell me? It tells me that we have all the social media muscle we can handle right now with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Aggregating other services into your “new” social network (Google, I’m lookin’ at you!) does not equate success. There are services (Brizzly) and tons of mobile apps that do this very thing. For a social medium to be a necessary player, original content from that medium should be created by its users…and with Buzz, at this point, it is not. With Facebook and Twitter continuing their growth and acceptance, I think it’s time for us to concede the fact that these two are here to stay. I think it’s also a fair statement that, in the realm of social networking, they are all the common user needs.

I could be wrong here. We might see Buzz make leaps and bounds and take over the social scene. I just don’t see it happening. I think it’s too late.

What about you? What do you think? Is Buzz worthy to be mentioned with the likes of Facebook and Twitter? Do you use it? Like it? Find it replacing you other social tools?

Love to hear from you!