Has anyone else here messed around with Google Buzz yet? I've spent some time here and there, and so far, it's cute, but meh. It seems like it could be useful, but right now, it seems like it's going to take too much time and trouble to set up contacts in a way that it's going to be useful and intuitive, and even then, I'm not seeing an upgrade over, say, using Facebook as a hub for managing contacts. And it gets to my ongoing pet peeve over Google products. They have exciting ideas, but they never seem to be the finished product. The only ones that feels actually ready for prime time are the search engine, map and mail, and they kept Gmail in beta for a good part of the last decade, and otherwise, user experience is generally crap. The execution doesn't seem to match the concept. So yeah, anyone actually thinking about using this as their primary social networking portal?
Gmail wants to get a big chunk of the FB market . Right now, no, FB is my primary social network. Gmail Buzz seems right now like FB light. And really. I am not sure why I would want to build another social network aside from FB, MySpace, and Twitter. BTW, for those who use Gmail they will get Buzz whether they want it or not.
See, I was thinking it might be nice to use Buzz as an aggregator for ALL social networks, and to the extent that you can link your Flickr and Twitter accounts, it is. I know Facebook and Google are almost competing directly in the sphere so I understand why one would want to broadcast content from the other, but it's really a dealbreaker. And not being able to go directly to Google Buzz (unless I'm missing something, you have to first go to Gmail, then click on the Buzz link) is annoying. Either way, the crap UI is maddening for something that seems to have a lot of potential. (FWIW, I think Motorola has its custom build of Android that basically combines Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, etc onto a single notification screen)
True, but it's also due to the general "ADD nature" of the internet. "ZOMG! Something new! Something cool! Let's forget about the old site! It's soooo last year." Right about the minute Facebook became popular, people instantly forgot about MySpace. Facebook opened their registration to everyone, became a bit more bloated, and now Twitter seems to be the rage. Google Buzz will eventually go the way of MySpace, i'm sure. Right now, it's obvious that social networking is all the rage. However, the scene will eventually become overcrowded, people won't know what methods to use, and the market will become too diluted. How many people go on MySpace on a regular basis compared to in 2005 or 2007? If not that, then we'll see something like AIM/Yahoo/MSN used to be. AIM was the rage in the USA, while Yahoo and MSN were big overseas.
I don't understand why they introduced Wave outside of Gmail but Buzz within it. The biggest problem with Wave appears to be that it is disassociated from Gmail and the people I know on it don't ever check it. All three of these products have roughly the same purpose. It would be nice if they had incorporated them better as one product. Q
