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Is Google’s Buzz Light Years Ahead of the Competition?

Guest post by: Karen Newman

Article Overview: Google's new social media platform "Buzz" is the talk of the town. Let's see how the new kid on the block shapes up against the competition.

Is Google’s Buzz Light Years Ahead of the Competition?

On the surface, the new Google Buzz social media platform looks and feels like many others. As you drill down further, however, the potential goldmine becomes apparent.

The key features released by Google include:

• Contacts are integrated automatically from your Gmail inbox so you do not need to manually enter information from friends and family.

• You have the option to share a Buzz either publicly or privately. The system will remember your previous preference so that the response to a private Buzz will also be private.

• Rather than receiving a pile of emails telling you that someone has replied to your messages, or joined your circle of friends, Buzz will simply update the existing content thread so that everything is in one manageable location.

• Buzz gives you the ability to quickly share pictures, videos, links messages from other social media sites and RSS feeds from Google Reader.

Another very interesting feature adds Buzz messages from not only friends, but friends of friends. Depending on your feedback to that content the system will learn your preference and will alter future recommendations.

Buzz also allows you to pull content from various other popular social sites on the web. Currently supported sites include; Twitter, YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Bloggers and any feed (like your personal blog) connected to your Google profile. When you publicly post something via Buzz, it instantaneously adds the post to your Google Profile page.

Google Mobile Maps has added a new Buzz feature allowing you to post to Buzz quickly from Google Maps. It will grab your location and link your position to a real place rather than just an address.

Eventually, Google will be adding Buzz to Google Apps accounts so that businesses and schools can use them as an internal communication and information-sharing platform. This could have a huge impact on improving workforce time-management and the resulting financial savings for many large companies.

Perhaps the major benefit of Google Buzz is the built in search functionality. Derived from what Google does best, search technology, this feature eclipses all competitors. To be able to sift though the endless pile of messages and find exactly what you are looking for, instantly, will be a huge draw for many.

In a seamless transition, and with a very large base of people to work with, Google has ensured that current Gmail account holders will be using Buzz in the very near future. If Buzz can deliver on their promise to better manage, locate and explore current conversations as well as new ones, they will make us all believers.

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Article Tags: buzz, gmail, google, google buzz, google maps, google reader, social media



Related Forum Posts
Re: Google Buzz - Any Thoughts? - [quote="Trent Brownrigg":suimkaob]I'm not too big into these social sites but Buzz looks to be just as good as the next. I have started using it more and more.[/quote:suimkaob] How are you finding it Trent. I haven't got around to it yet have been very busy with offline work and so my time has been limited and have used it adding more articles etc to my website. Still have Buzz on my to do list. MichelleJ
Re: Google Buzz - Any Thoughts? - [quote="MichelleJ":3u0447fv][quote="Trent Brownrigg":3u0447fv]I'm not too big into these social sites but Buzz looks to be just as good as the next. I have started using it more and more.[/quote:3u0447fv] How are you finding it Trent. I haven't got around to it yet have been very busy with offline work and so my time has been limited and have used it adding more articles etc to my website. Still have Buzz on my to do list. MichelleJ[/quote:3u0447fv] It seems to be similar to Twitter but you are not limited in length on what you write and people can directly reply to your updates kind of like on Facebook. It's sort of a cross between the two. I like it better than Twitter but not as much as Facebook so it's somewhere in between in my opinion.
Re: Google Buzz - Any Thoughts? - I'm not too big into these social sites but Buzz looks to be just as good as the next. I have started using it more and more.
Re: Congratultations to GT! - Hi GT, Competition is great and i know I wouldn't be here without it, but it is not the main reason for posting and participating. But I admit, it is the trigger I need to get some work done. If there is none, i create one for myself and try to make it. First prize is ice cream.
Re: Google Buzz - Any Thoughts? - Hi Alfanzo, Yes, I have heard that some people are looking towards Google Buzz as an alternative to Facebook because it has better privacy settings.


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