I’m starting a buzz campaign to bring Music Mondays from Twitter to Google Buzz. For those who unfamiliar with Music Mondays, people simply tweet the music they’ve been listening to lately to generate some Twitter activity and to help spread the news about good recording artists.
Music Mondays make more sense on Buzz than Twitter because you can embed YouTube videos directly into a buzz. Simply put “Music Monday” in your buzzes (hashtags on Buzz are for losers) and share your favorites. Maybe include a brief bit about why you like the song or how you discovered it.
My campaign is, admittedly, off to a very warm reception but a slow start because I only have 260 followers on my personal account and 124 on my blog account. Please consider rebuzzing this post with the buzz this link below or just buzz “Music Mondays are now on Google Buzz. Please post a YouTube video like this one…” To embed a YouTube video, just click on the insert link button in your buzz box and paste a YouTube URL into it.
My buzz tomorrow will be a terrific Beck music video with cool robots in it that I discovered on YouTube earlier today. Follow me on Buzz to see and hear it tomorrow. Click here to follow me.
UPDATE: If you want to search buzz for all Music Monday posts with videos, do the following search: “music monday has:videos”
So, I’m still wielding a Blackberry Tour 9630. I know that’s very 2009 but that aside… I was encountering two significant problems after consolidating my email on the computer into Gmail (I have the enhanced Gmail plugin installed on my ‘berry) and after I started using Google Buzz:
- Duplicate emails. Each time I received an email at something@something.com it also ends up in my Gmail inbox. Works great on the computer. However, my consolidated Blackberry Inbox would show two copies of every message except for those sent directly to my Gmail. I considered removing all email addresses from my Blackberry except for the Gmail address but that would prevent me from composing or replying from any address other than Gmail.
- Buzz notifications. My Blackberry was going berserk every time a new buzz appeared in my stream. I would receive an email with every comment on that buzz. This happens even though I have a filter in Gmail to auto-archive those emails (instructions here). Not only was this annoying but it was also hogging the memory on my Blackberry.
The “workaround” isn’t too elegant but it does work. Install the standalone Gmail app from Google (http://m.google.com/ on the Blackberry browser). Use that to read your Gmail. You’ll probably want to move it to your home screen. Remove your Gmail address on your ‘berry through the Email Settings icon. Now, you will not receive any Buzz notifications on your ‘berry if you have a buzz filter to auto-archive those emails. Your Gmail inbox will receive every message your Gmail on the PC receives. Admittedly, this can be kind of slow because sometimes Gmail waits up to an hour before POPing email from other accounts. However, your normal consolidated Blackberry Inbox will receive push email from your non-Gmail addresses. And, you can compose and reply from all of your email addresses. Note that your Gmail will not appear in your consolidated Blackberry Inbox.
This is only a partial solution to problem #1 because anything sent to something@something.com will appear in both the Gmail app and the consolidated Blackberry Inbox. Frankly, I tend to ignore my consolidated Blackberry Inbox because I don’t need to respond to my emails immediately. The workaround above is a complete solution to problem #2. Also, the Gmail App is handy to have for other reasons. For example, you can search your entire email archives for old emails.
I hope that the BIS update RIM is promising solves the duplicate email problem but it is unclear when the BIS update will be released. For the Buzz notifications, I wrote to Google to help make them aware of the problem. If the Buzz notifications are skipping the inbox in Gmail, they shouldn’t push to the Blackberry. The most elegant solution would be to allow users to simply turn off the notifications completely.
Everyone is buzzing about how to use Google Buzz and whether it will succeed. Some are still tweeting about privacy concerns. Everyone wants to know whether Facebook, Twitter and Google Buzz can coexist. In this post, I take a different approach. I begin with the assumption that Google Buzz will succeed and consider what effects that will have on the world of blogging and on more mainstream digital media. I conclude that Google Buzz will have profound effects that significantly differ from effects of any other social networking site that currently exists.
If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon and played around on Google Buzz, you haven’t missed much. I’ll tell you what’s been going on the past few days. It seems like almost all of the buzz is about Buzz. This isn’t exactly a bad thing, however; Google employees have been working around the clock to respond to user feedback with improvements, according to the Official Gmail blog. Many of the improvements relate to online privacy and the auto-follow feature (which is now an auto-suggest feature).
I finally figured out hot to send a Google Buzz from the Blackberry by tinkering with URLs and using the BOLT! browser by Bitstream. Simple two step instructions:
1. Download the free BOLT! Browser (if you don’t have it already)
Instructions here:
http://tbottle.com/tb/2009/12/07/bitstreams-bolt-free-blackberry-browser-upgraded-to-v-1-6/
2. Point BOLT! to:
https://m.google.com/app/buzz?force=1#~buzz:view=me
You may be required to login to Google services before Buzz loads but this works…
Voila!
Incidentally, if you click on the link above from your desktop instead of your Blackberry, you can view Buzz with collapsible comments.
Please follow me on Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/9z4c2M (personal) & http://bit.ly/asucfb (blog)
UPDATE: For a complete rundown of mobile browsers and their compatibility with the Buzz link above, visit WAP Review by Dennis Bournique.
I believe that Google Buzz is primarily aimed at attracting Twitter content right now, not Facebook content. This is a follow up post to the video I recently posted.
In the YouTube video below Kevin Rose explains why he believes Google created Buzz. The video is enlightening and thought provoking.
[via YouTube]
Not much to say about this other than BlackBerryRocks.Com just posted the links. See the post here: http://bit.ly/9pGQjl. Use the Desktop Manager install.
P.S. Can’t handle multiple accounts. P.P.S. WTF? RIM’s finally getting around to releasing a Twitter app when Twitter is about to be owned by Google Buzz? 9 million buzzes in 2 days.
So, I’m digging buzz but I offered some constructive criticism yesterday. Well, I’m dishing up more today.
I believe that many present day blogs can be replaced with Buzzes. Because there is no character limit for a Buzz, I could simply Buzz instead of futzing with WordPress (which entails updating plugins, dealing with spammer comments, security issues, backing up and upgrading WordPress from time to time). The biggest obstacles to Buzz replacing the present day blog are:
1. Plain Looking Content — Solution: Gmail Interface. Maybe add an advanced tab to the Buzz input that would allow buzzers (buzzards?) to change text and background colors. Something akin to the Gmail interface would work well. I envision this being entirely optional.
2. Inability to Monetize a Buzz — Solution: Adsense for Buzz. As I see it, there is no way for someone who writes a buzz to monetize it right now unless you draw users away from the Buzz ecosystem and into a blog or other site. Google should allow buzzers to opt-in for Google Adsense. If someone takes the time to write a thoughtful, lengthy buzz that attracts readers and advertising clicks, share the wealth in the same fashion you share it with bloggers. This would speed the adoption of Buzz by bloggers and make the site more sticky with fewer out-bound links. Accordingly, Adsense for Buzz could improve Google’s bottom line.
Here I gripe about Google Buzz…
I believe that Google Buzz has a lot of potential and I’m digging it. However, it has some kinks that need to be worked out:
- Notifications should skip the Gmail inbox by default. We can see the notifications in the left-hand pane and don’t need to intermingle buzz with email. Filters can be used to route the buzz to archives and skip the inbox (instructions courtesy of LifeHacker at http://goo.gl/3Iyt) but it would make more sense to have a toggle whether the user wants buzz in the inbox.
- Kudos to Google for making responses to buzzes (which work like comments on a blog) editable. However, it would be really nifty if the buzz responses were (a) nested and (b) could be hidden. Many popular buzzes have so many comments that it’s almost impossible to follow the conversation. The clutter on the page is overwhelming too.
- The “Mute” button doesn’t work. Be warned: If you mute a buzz you commented on, then new replies will all show up in your new buzz count. Because the mute button doesn’t work, long discussions like the ones Mashable started are to be avoided.
- The “Mute” button is dangerously close to the “Unfollow” button.
- Let us harvest our Facebook friends list and add them in buzz. While I appreciate the efforts to avoid mentioning Facebook anywhere and not link to it, the ability to draw in our existing social networks would be helpful. Pulling in Twitter followers simply doesn’t cut it for many of us.
I’m actually kind of digging buzz but the issues I identified above need to be addressed ( at least 1 through 4) or this ship won’t sail.
P.S. Mini-Gripe: Couldn’t Google add some more background/color themes to Gmail? The existing ones get mighty boring.
The Wall Street Journal and Mashable are reporting that Google will soon roll out a “status update” feature to Gmail similar to Facebook and Twitter. This is BIG news and “Make Gmail Social” (which appears in the Mashable headline) is now a trending topic on Twitter.
Get ready to see your Facebook stream flooded with Sid Meier’s Civilization Network, a sequel to his popular Civilization franchise. It will begin beta testing in June. Sid has hinted at what players can expect in the game:
No need to reinvent the wheel, right?
While I have been covering the Google vs. Apple war, I haven’t been discussing the Google vs. Facebook war that is apparently brewing. I recommend reading Robert Scoble’s post today:
I’ve been playing around with FourSquare beta on the Blackberry for a few weeks now. It’s surprisingly addictive. I’ve had a ball with it and this should be a breakout year for this startup.
It’s out now for everyone to enjoy. Sorta. It was up at first but you can still get it here…
Harvard has partnered with FourSquare to create a special Harvard page which will include various attractions around campus. “We believe that Harvard’s participation will allow our community to engage with friends, professors, and colleagues in new ways. We also hope visitors and neighbors will benefit from the platform as it grows through use,” Harvard’s Director of Digital Communications told The Crimson.
This is great move by FourSquare. Not only did it nail down a large community, but it selected one with the highest profile. And, as duly noted by many other sources, Harvard is the birthplace of Facebook.
P.S. The FourSquare Blackberry app should be released for all to enjoy by week’s end.
[via TechCrunch]
