This doesn't negate the author's point. For a lot of people, "buzz is all about leveraging gmail" is the problem with buzz.
If buzz were a good product it would stand on its own merit without needing to "leverage" gmail. The trouble is that it's not a good product -- it's a lame me-too effort that offers little over its rivals (Twitter and Facebook). Me-too is fine so long as you bring something to the table, and buzz doesn't seem to, except for gmail integration, which an awful lot of people think is actually a hindrance.
Google have shown time and time again that they don't get "social networking", which is fine because they're a search and ads company and they do get those[1]. (I'm thinking of Orkut, OpenSocial, the way they introduced following into Reader and now buzz).
Buzz has already wormed it's way into my life. Sure, it's mainly done that by telling me it's there every time I check gmail - which is too much. But the way I like it is that it tells me the interesting things my friends are doing elsewhere, and lets me talk about them. Very few people actually Buzz deliberately, but then many conversation get started by a tumblr post, or a twitter post. Sure, those obviously have their own mechanisms for interaction, but those mechanisms aren't cleanly integrated into something I have open all the time, and telling me about them. Um, except twitter, because I have that as a widget in the side of the page.
Oh, and the (pretty much separate) geolocating public Buzz layer on Maps for mobiles is very nice. I discovered a tea place I want to check out just round the corner from my house, if nothing else.
Comments
This doesn't negate the author's point. For a lot of people, "buzz is all about leveraging gmail" is the problem with buzz.
If buzz were a good product it would stand on its own merit without needing to "leverage" gmail. The trouble is that it's not a good product -- it's a lame me-too effort that offers little over its rivals (Twitter and Facebook). Me-too is fine so long as you bring something to the table, and buzz doesn't seem to, except for gmail integration, which an awful lot of people think is actually a hindrance.
Google have shown time and time again that they don't get "social networking", which is fine because they're a search and ads company and they do get those[1]. (I'm thinking of Orkut, OpenSocial, the way they introduced following into Reader and now buzz).
[1] the recent facebook login debacle aside
Buzz has already wormed it's way into my life. Sure, it's mainly done that by telling me it's there every time I check gmail - which is too much. But the way I like it is that it tells me the interesting things my friends are doing elsewhere, and lets me talk about them. Very few people actually Buzz deliberately, but then many conversation get started by a tumblr post, or a twitter post. Sure, those obviously have their own mechanisms for interaction, but those mechanisms aren't cleanly integrated into something I have open all the time, and telling me about them. Um, except twitter, because I have that as a widget in the side of the page.
Oh, and the (pretty much separate) geolocating public Buzz layer on Maps for mobiles is very nice. I discovered a tea place I want to check out just round the corner from my house, if nothing else.