Rambling Thoughts

The Buzz at Google

Posted on 10. Feb, 2010 by Nikhil Sheth in Google, News, Tools

With more and more communication happening online, the social web has exploded as the primary way to share interesting stuff, tell the world what you’re up to in real-time and stay more connected to more people. In today’s world of status messages, tweets and update streams, it’s increasingly tough to sort through it all, much less engage in meaningful conversations.

Google introduced Google Buzz to the world today (it is still being rolled out to everyone so if you did not get it yet, fear not). According to Google, “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.”  Essentially, that is what Google Buzz is in it’s most watered down state or explanation.

It’s five key features, as laid out in the event at Google HQ, include:

• Automatic friends lists (friends are added automatically who you have emailed on Gmail)
• “Rich fast sharing” combines sources like Picasa and Twitter into a single feed, and it includes full-sized photo browsing
• Public and private sharing (swap between family and friends)
• Inbox integration (instead of emailing you with updates, like Facebook might, Buzz features emails that update dynamically with all Buzz thread content, like the photo viewer we mentioned above)
• “Recommended Buzz” puts friend-of-friend content into your stream, even if you’re not acquainted. Recommendations learn over time with your feedback.

Where Google Buzz will be very interesting to follow is in the mobile division.  It uses your mobile device and geo location technology to see where you are which can put context into the items you share on the go.  Not only that but the ability to see who is buzzing around you (whether you follow them or not) is pretty neat.  Google Buzz’s integration with Google Maps is also very handy to see “hot spots” or areas where people have left information, tips/tricks, or advice.

Related posts:

1. Things That Google Knows About You
2. Google Gmail Gets Voice and Video Chat
3. Better way to read News with Google Fast Flip
4. Gmail to add Twitter-like live updates
5. Google Launches : What’s Popular

Tags: Google, Google Buzz