Google’s super secret social networking endeavor, Google Plus, was released this week as a “Field Test.” Many from the Google Buzz crowd and FOGs (Friends of Google) were invited along and within 48 hours it opened up to a much wider group. It is estimated (albeit unscientifically) that several thousand people now have access. I’d like to let new readers know that I get excited about new web properties. I’ve pitched other new social networks that turned out to fall flat. However, Google Plus is the real deal and absolutely worth a serious look.

1. Google Plus was one of the best kept secrets of any large project I have ever seen. It’s truly remarkable that more information did not leak out about this project.  Sure, almost exactly a year ago, Kevin Rose tweeted “Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon ‘Google Me’, very credible source.”  But not very much was known about the details of the project. Now, Google in grand fashion has released “Google Me” as “Google+”.  Google has tight control over confidential information and plays its cards close to its vest. (In this regard, Google is similar to Apple.) However, people on Buzz knew something was coming soon because the few Googlers who supported Google Buzz was noticeably absent from Buzz for months.

2. Google Plus is NOT Buzz Reincarnated — Thankfully. I’ve seen people refer to Google Plus as “Buzz 2.0″ and I can barely see the resemblance. Although the Field Test includes many of the prominent Buzz users, the site is not similar to Google Buzz in many respects. It’s not baked into Gmail, does not have a chaotic feed that is difficult to follow, has an entirely different UI and includes MANY previously-unseen features. In hindsight, what kept Buzz from becoming a ghost town was the friendships that formed early in Buzz’s existence. In a sense, we were a people without a home. Just prior to the Google Plus launch, some of us were migrating to a site called “Namesake.” (Check it out if you haven’t.) In other words, we were collectively coming to our senses that Buzz was not a good platform.

Google Plus brings with it some amazing features but the best is “Circles.” Each user has the ability to create, edit and delete groups of friends in a simple manner. I’ll let Google explain with its own Youtube:

Google Plus is being compared and contrasted with Facebook, not surprisingly. Circles are far easier to use than Facebook’s “friends lists.” Almost everyone I know who uses Facebook shares everything with their entire friends list or the entire universe of Facebook users. Sometimes, rarely, they will send someone a private message too. Circles allow for people to easily group people by interest or topic. The ability to easily drop and drag people into and out of a Circle makes for relationships to develop (and end) quickly. No longer am I sharing everything with people I can barely remember from high school. But if I wanted to, I could. Circles enable users to better control the distribution of their updates.

And I’m barely scratching the surface by only mentioning Circles. There’s also Sparks (discovery by topic), Hangouts (group videochats) and some other features that are still in development like Questions and Games. (Yes, Google Plus has better feed control than other social networks and without a doubt we’ll be able to exclude unwanted classes of content from our feeds. Did you hear that Zynga?)

3. Google Plus is NOT Facebook Plus — Thankfully. While it looked like Facebook to me at first (perhaps even an older iteration),  Google Plus is substantially different. Already I see new relationships forming. Facebook, as I see it used, is primarily a tool for sharing brief remarks with friends from the face-to-face world. Google Plus can be used for the purpose but what I like about it is the ability to find interesting people who don’t exist in my face-to-face world. On Twitter these relationships can be formed by a series of 140 character tweets, but on Google Plus there are some more in depth discussions forming around topics, and we have the baked in ability to meet face-to-face (virtually) without even leaving the Google Plus ecosystem. In fact, as far as communicating with people online, Google Plus is a comprehensive platform.

In any event, I think the “Facebook killer” view is the wrong way to look at Google Plus right now. It could be used as a Facebook alternative (or Twitter alternative) or simply as a supplemental social network. It is not a case of Google just “one-upping” Facebook. Google has designed a unique social network with some features we have seen before but many new features which appear to be carefully considered (contrast with Buzz)  and extremely well executed (e.g., Circles, Sparks, Hangouts and so on). By running a limited Field Test, Google is working out some minor issues before the site is available to everyone but none of the minor issues I have seen have adversely affected my impression of what Google Plus is and where it is going.

There’s so much more that could be written about Google Plus and the blogosphere has exploded with posts about it. There are many different ways to analyze Google Plus but I suggest, as I wrote above, that Google Plus is unique. If you do not join up thinking Buzz+ or Facebook+, you will likely fall in love with it the way most users seem to be during the Field Test.

If you don’t already have access, you will soon. While you wait, minor annoyances are being resolved and Google Plus is improving. You’re in for an eye-opening treat and I hope you enjoy it at least as much as I have the past few days. When you get there, look me up (http://goo.gl/eA1ih).

P.S. The Android app for Google Plus, which can only be used by people who have joined and not those waiting for invitations to join, is icing on the cake. Truly spectacular.

No related posts.

Brief explanation: I was flirting with the idea of shutting the blog down or allowing it to simply wither on the vine. I even considered posting a message that all of my blogging will occur in a micro fashion either on Buzz or Twitter (@JonMallin).  However, I have decided to keep the blog live, allow guest bloggers to participate (Thanks Louis Parker and Nick Waye), and to personally update it on a infrequent basis. These are my thoughts on technology that I’ve had bottled up (get the joke?) for awhile with a focus on Google.

On to discuss Google’s game plan… TweetDeck was acquired by Twitter because it threatened Twitter. TweetDeck was and is the most-widely used third party vehicle and Twitter was the destination. The problem for Twitter is that TweetDeck was also a vehicle that drove people to Facebook and Buzz, though to a much lesser extent. If FaceMashSomething popped up tomorrow, a Twitter rival, TweetDeck could propel it to instant stardom. On the other hand, if Twitter acquires TweetDeck then it owns and controls a vehicle, an especially popular vehicle.

Today I had a somewhat similar random thought that might sound somewhat conspiracy-like. Google has created Chome browser and Chrome OS to move advertisements from the web and into the OS (banner at the bottom, pop-ups, etc.). Remember the fundamentals? Google is, at its core, an advertising company… plain and simple.  This would insure advertising revenue regardless of the websites people visit. Websites come and go. There was AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, MySpace, etc. Websites tend to be short-term trends. What is intelligent about Google’s plan is that it would be immune to these trends. Facebook could beat Buzz/Google Me, Bing could become popular, Twitter use could skyrocket and guess what? If Google owns the vehicle, the OS it gives away for free, it has the ability to sell advertisers access to your eyeballs (remember, your eyeballs are Google’s primary “product”).

This is precisely the Android model.

So, Android = huge success by all accounts based on insanely fast widespread adoption.

Google owns the vehicle and it serves up ads through third party apps (note: in fact, no native Google apps have advertising banners AFAIK).

If they can move from handsets to desktops to other ways of catching your eyeballs, Google makes boatloads of cash.

If I’m correct in my thinking, Google should be patenting the heck out of an OS that overlays ads over internet accessed content or otherwise interjects ads into the user experience (brief pauses with animated ads or boot-up ads… whatever, patent it all). Furthermore, Google should give away computers. I previous wrote, “Chrome OS Netbooks — Hell Yes, Google Will Give away computers” back in December of 2009.  What happened?  Google beta tested a computer giveaway, the CR-48. The goals isn’t to sell computers. It never was. Every pundit who declares Google’s hardware experiences “failures” is an idiot. Google TV is a way to sell your eyeballs when you look at your television. Google’s web properties sell your eyeballs when you look at the computer. Google Android, YouTube… you get the point. The amount of revenue Google receives directly from the sale of a physical product is immaterial to Google’s plans. The only thing that matters is that Google win the vehicle war.

My belief is that Google may think it has nearly saturated some of its existing customers and maximized the value they can extract out of existing eyeballs. They now need new eyeballs. People who don’t have computers, smartphones, etc. If they give away computers, they may harvest up new eyeballs. Senior citizens and the poor are likely audiences.

This is not to say Google isn’t diversifying. Sure, it wants to serve up its productivity suite. But, I contend that line of business will be immaterial to Google’s revenue stream for a long, long time.

Google’s “master plan” is to be the vehicle through which your eyeballs travel. They’re not looking to pull money from your wallet by selling you a product. Instead, our eyeballs are being sold as the product and Google wants to make sure it is the largest, best eyeball store around.

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--Google Plus: Stealth Mode to Instant Competitor?

Admittedly, it’s been a long, long time since I last updated the Tech Bottle blog. It’s not that I’ve fallen months behind on technology.  I have been reading and interacting with tech enthusiasts but I haven’t been posting here.  A New Years resolution is to keep the blog updated on at least a semi-regular basis. Here’s what I’ve been doing and what’s caught my eye:

• I’m still a big supporter of Google Buzz. I think it is intelligently designed and well executed. I tend to read much more than I write on Buzz but I have been getting back in the swing of things. It’ll hopefully be rolled into the rumored Google Me service which apparently goes by the code name Google +1 now.
• I’m also liking Quora and Diaspora quite a bit. Quora is a Q&A forum of sorts. It’s like Yahoo! Answers, in a way, but Quora is populated with real techies and entrepreneurs.  Diaspora is the “open” alternative to Facebook.  Readers of my blog know that I’m not a big fan of Facebook. Diaspora has better privacy settings and it’s more intuitive to use than Facebook.  Quora is open to all but Diaspora is by invitation only (I think… I tried confirming but they are upgrading their servers… a much needed chore for them).
• I’m still running Ubuntu linux at home.  I am pleased to report that I haven’t had to boot Windows or virtualize Windows even once since converting to Ubuntu nearly six months ago. Oh, in Ubuntu I’ve been toying with MythTV which is pretty darn cool but difficult to set up.  I also revitalized a 333 MHz old Dell machine with 256 megs of RAM by installing Ubuntu. It’s usable but, well, not quite snappy enough for my liking.
• I’ve downloaded the Dell build of Chromium OS but I need to clean up and fix a USB stick to try it out.
• I’m eagerly awaiting the HTC Thunderbolt, which is rumored to be Verizon’s first 4G/LTE phone.Tell me this isn’t a great looking Android phone?  I have an upgrade saved up on my account.  The only thing that would keep me away from the Thunderbolt would be an encrypted bootloader that would make rooting and custom ROMing the phone impossible (or, at the very least, extremely difficult).
• Also in the mobile industry, I see RIM slipping further into irrelevance.  They announced a switch to a completely new OS built from an operating system designed for touchscreen GPS standalone devices. The new OS won’t be available for a long time (my guess, over a years… 2012) yet they’re still selling OUTDATED Blackberry OS devices like the Torch (major flop) to keep revenue going. Goldman Sachs downgraded RIM’s stock not too long ago. Oh, and RIM has a dual core tablet in the works that some are touting but others are already criticizing (mostly re: battery life).
• The CR-48 Chrome netbook looks great to me but I haven’t been able to score one. I’ve been reading about it on Buzz from those lucky few who received them.

That’s all folks.  Expect more in 2011.  Have a happy and healthy new year.

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--Google Plus Ate My Blog, Find Me There… --Google wants to kill your amateur blog… but that’s OK. --Google Plus: Stealth Mode to Instant Competitor?

I’ll begin by disclaiming that I’m not much of a podcast guy. I prefer to read or skim than purely listen. That said, I turned on Android Guys Thursday Night podcast last week and really enjoyed it. It’s all talk about Android devices and apps with plenty of humor thrown in for good measure. The podcast also features call-in segments with listeners.

Chuck Falzone, a regular on Google Buzz, participates in the Android Guys podcast. Tonight at 10 pm ET, Chuck will be talking about My6Sense with Louis Gray. My6Sense is a social media aggregator that supports Facebook, Twitter, Buzz and RSS feeds.  Sounds something like TweetDeck or Seesmic, right? Well, My6Sense goes one step further. It learns your behavior over time and organizes your aggregated stream according to your past behavior. In other words, it separates the wheat from the chaff for you. It is available in the Market under “My6Sense” and it is free.

To learn more about My6Sense and listen in on the Android Guys podcast (or download it later), go to: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/androidguys

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--Proto Podcast Mini: What do I think of Google+?

There’s a lot of buzz and chatter in the blogosphere about Google’s upcoming social features. Starting with Kevin Rose’s infamous tweet, we’ve been referring to an amorphous “Google Me” platform. Presumably, Google Me will be designed to go toe-to-toe with Facebook. We’ve seen rumors about Zynga bringing social gaming aboard, along with a recent acquisition that suggests Google Me is indeed a reality. While some might feel that Google Me has been blogged ad nauseum,I will speculate what this service will look like.

Google has many very social properties that exist as islands. The core properties are Picasa, Gmail, Voice, Chat (and Video), Reader, Blogger, YouTube, and Orkut. Buzz was an attempt to bring together many of these properties and connect them. Think of Buzz as a hub and the other properties as spokes. However, Buzz did not gain widespread adoption. For some, it was the privacy missteps in the first few days of operation that kept them away. I believe there are more obvious and compelling reasons why people aren’t using Buzz in large numbers right now. First, people want to interact with their existing associates, many of whom they communicate with on Facebook. Second, the Buzz interface is somewhat confusing. Facebook and Twitter primarily operate on a chronological model. Buzz doesn’t. Back to the point, Buzz was a failed attempt to create a widely adopted hub linking Google’s social properties, the islands.

I believe Google Me will connect the islands in a very similar way that iGoogle can be used to connect all of Google’s services. In fact, iGoogle has long had some social features unique among all of Google’s properties, including rudimentary social gaming. I actually think Google Me will, in fact, look quite a bit like iGoogle. We will design our own social networks. We may choose a box for YouTube, a stream of Buzz, some Picasa albums, Gmail previews, Chat pane, etc. which would all appear in some integrated fashion on one page (or a group of tabbed pages). Unlike Buzz, Wave and other Google properties that have “fixed” UIs, Google Me may have a more “dynamic” user-customizable look and feel. Drop and drag a feed of friends on the left, maybe another for co-workers in the middle and keep Chat on the right. Or, maybe have it the other way around. Oh, and the top will likely have a search bar and a status update-like field (not too dissimilar from Facebook). Oddly, if I’m correct about the user-customizable look and feel, Google Me may be somewhat similar to *gasp* MySpace in some respects. (Don’t get too discouraged. MySpace was once wildly successful and there may be some elements worth salvaging.)

Will Google Me succeed where Buzz has failed? I’m sure Google will control the rollout and check, double check and triple check to make sure there aren’t serious privacy concerns. Well, this alone won’t assure it’s success. As I pondered above, many people’s existing social networks exist on Facebook. Zynga could help lure massive numbers of virtual farmers, mafia wannabes and others from Facebook to Google, particularly if Zynga and Facebook completely part ways. There is also an enormous installed base of Gmail users. If there is a way to convert them into Google Me users, Google should find it. Also, consider that Google could leverage its upcoming Google TV, Google Music and Google Books properties. Another angle Google could play is integrating Google Me with Apps. Enterprise might be more likely to permit employees to use Google Me, if there were dedicated business streams and corporate discussions. Whereas, Facebook is practically a complete suck on employee productivity.

In any event, I’m straying want into the “will it work?” topic and I intended to merely write about what it will look like. My bets are on a user-customizable iGoogle-like platform. I don’t have a shred of evidence to support this but, as I titled the post, this is my best guess.

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--Google Plus: Stealth Mode to Instant Competitor?

Google is dumping Google Wave. Here’s the official quote:

Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects.

This news came as a complete surprise to me and many others. It seems like just yesterday Wave was released and it was the buzz of the internet. It was a trending topic on twitter for nearly a week and many people were scurrying to get invitations to the beta. Nonetheless, Wave failed for very good reasons.

While I was initially jazzed about Wave, just like many at Google according to the official blog, I was blinded by the fact that it was new and shiny. I blogged about it several times and even created a Google Wave category for the blog. However, when I began Waving with friends, they quickly pointed out reasons why they didn’t like it. It was difficult to use. It was launched without full features like email notifications. It was another mode of communication that was redundant with our existing modes. In short, they felt it was a waste of their time and apparently many people felt that way. They just didn’t “get” Wave.

I haven’t read the other commentary in the blogosphere on the failure of Wave but I think many will be discussing Google Buzz and the rumored Google Me project. I suspect that Wave will be replaced with Google Me and if Google Me gains tractions we may see Google Buzz fall by the wayside too. While I would be sad to see Buzz go, I would welcome a better replacement that achieves more widespread adoption. Frankly, I can’t convince anyone in my social circles to get active on Buzz. Hopefully, Google has a recipe for marketing a service that will compete with Facebook which is now 500 million strong. I’d like to see a superior replacement for Facebook with better governance.

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--Google Plus: Stealth Mode to Instant Competitor?

Miio is a mixture of every hot property on the web right now. It is a little like Facebook, Twitter, Buzz and FriendFeed. In other words, it is a social networking site. Do we really need another? The answer appears to be a resounding YES. Miio brings in the best of each of the hot properties and it is really gaining traction. The service is so polished that TheNextWeb entitled a post “Early adopted alert: miio is here, and it’s looking really slick.”

I’m a big fan of Google Buzz and I’ve been vocal about it. The CEO of miio, Richard Lusk, is also a Google Buzz fan. I’m not alone in saying that I plan to shift some of my social networking time to miio.

I’m not going to attempt to reinvent the wheel. There’s an excellent review of miio in the blogosphere entitled, “Why miio isn’t Twitter or Facebook: And why this is a good thing.” The post contains a video demo and a terrific overview of the service. It’s recommended reading.

If you check out miio, add my profile to your network. It’s at http://miio.com/jon.

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File this rumor in the “quite possible” folder. It comes by way of Kevin Rose, co-founder and CEO of Digg. He tweeted to his 1.1 million followers:

Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon “Google Me”, very credible source

TechMiso picked up the tweet and the rumor is gaining steam on Google Buzz.

I believe there is room in the Google ecosystem for a new social network. While Buzz is still fresh out of the box, it really isn’t ideal for keeping up with friends and family. Buzz is somewhat more like Twitter in terms of the relationships between users, although discussions tend to be more fulsome than those on Twitter. Google does already have a Facebook like service, Orkut. However, Orkut is significantly behind Facebook in terms of features and it never really caught on outside of Brazil and India. Some point to Wave as a social network of sorts but it’s really a different animal. Wave is more like a collaboration service that better suits business purposes than social purposes.

If there really is a Google Me, I’m really curious what the service will look like. Surely, it will incorporate many Facebook features but I would expect some significant departures from the mold, and not just better privacy settings. Surely, there’s room for improvement upon the Facebook format.

I believe the biggest obstacle to any Facebook competitor is that many Facebook users have invested significant time amassing their group of Facebook friends. Even if an large group decided to defect from Facebook, it’s not easy to export Facebook contacts to Google. It actually requires a Yahoo! account to pull from Facebook and export to CSV file. From there, the CSV file can be imported into Gmail. Instructions can be found here.

I’m hoping Kevin is right. It’s about time someone shakes things up and competes meaningfully with Facebook.

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I’ve been blogging less lately. I haven’t lost interest but I have been allocating my time differently. Among other things, I’ve been playing around with KIN 1 and KIN 2 (short review coming soon); I’ve been customizing the heck out of Ubuntu linux to make it look more like this video; I’ve been catching up on Google Reader which has been redlined at 1,000+ articles for weeks; oh, and I’m still playing on Google Buzz.

I wrote on May 17 that Google Buzz deserves a second chance. It looks like I’m in good company; now, some tech heavyweights have written similar posts.

• Yesterday, Robert Scoble wrote “Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?” It’s a great read and he’s an avid Buzzer.
• Pinging off of Scoble’s post yesterday, Matt Cutts wrote a post entitled, “Give Buzz another look.” Matt works for Google so you couldn’t expect dissent but I still think it says something about Buzz that he’s prominently featuring a Buzz endorsement on his personal blog.

If you haven’t been to Buzz lately, check it out. Simply load up Gmail and click Buzz in the left-hand pane. Do some searches for topics that interest you and begin following people. I’ve been fortunate to have grown my followers on my personal account to over 530 and I’m always welcoming new followers (http://www.google.com/profiles/jonathan.mallin). I also have a blog account with another 215 followers (http://www.google.com/profiles/techbottle).

P.S. I shipped my Blackberry Tour off to Australia to reward a loyal RTer for his generous efforts. #payingitforward

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I’m a big fan of Google Buzz and encourage others to check it out. Today the Google Buzz Team made two big announcements — one awesome and the other so-so.

I’ll start with the awesome announcement. The mobile version of Google Buzz now works on virtually all smartphones, including Blackberry, WebOS, Android <2.0, Nokia S60, and Windows Mobile. Previously, only iPhones and Android 2.0+ could access the mobile site. The Blackberry version can even support location based searches by following some simple instructions. The inclusion of Blackberry specifically should help build the Buzz user base because 43% of smartphone users are toting Blackberries, as of Jan. 2010.

The so-so news is that Buzz now has a native rebuzzing feature which is called “reshare.” Some people are wild about this but I’m not. While it’s only been out a few hours, it seems to fragment meaningful discussions into multiple tidbit buzzes. Also, who wants to read the same blog post 30 times in their Buzz stream? Nonetheless, the eagle has landed and rebuzzing is here.

[via Official Gmail Blog]

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I sure picked the wrong week to be busy with non-tech stuff. Much has happened in the past week and my Google Reader is still readlined at 1000+ new articles to read. These are some of the stories from the past week that look the most interesting:

• Android 2.2 “FroYo” debuted at Google I/O. Many people have it up and running on rooted Nexus Ones. It supports the creation of mobile hotspots which basically turns a FroYo device into a wireless router.  IntoMobile has been providing good coverage. It recently reported that the “leaked” version is not the final version, according to Googler Romain Guy, but it is apparently very stable.
• Google I/O attendees found HTC Evo 4Gs in their goodie bags, Oprah style. I’ve written about the Evo 4G before (which should have stayed with the codename “Supersonic” but, anyhow…).  What happens when you give an hot Android phone to hundreds of developers? Well, someone figures out how to gain superuser access by rooting the device (video). Robert Scoble started a high traffic Buzz comparing the Evo to the iPhone platform. Many newly minted Android fans weighed in and dueled with Apple fanatics. The iPhone 4G (or HD or whatever they decide to call it) has a fierce competitor comprised of Google and virtually every major device manufacturer.
• Mark Zuckerberg conceded by email (which he agreed to make public): “I know we’ve made a bunch of mistakes….” Captain Obvious? I wonder, however, whether they did as big a land grab as possible with a slight retreat in mind from the onset. Don’t know.  In any event, it remains to be seen what Facebook intends to do about the mistakes. I suggest that they include a lockdown button in the privacy settings which basically toggles off all information sharing except with friends. In my opinion, that would be a step in the right direction for Facebook.
• Gizmodo found or stole another prototype, depending on your perspective. This one appears to be the Motorola Shadow which runs Android. The story goes that a gym employee found one laying around and Gizmodo got ahold of it (follow link for pics). This phone looks great and it’s almost certainly Verizon bound. It could be branded as the “Droid 2.”
• The Google Orkut experiment is still ongoing. A number of Google Buzz users are playing around with Orkut and enjoying it. If you’re at all interested, check out my post about it.
• Finally, this blog has been getting very heavy traffic lately compared to historical numbers. I attribute that primarily to my posts about the HTC Incredible which is still back ordered at Verizon. I’ve loaded up on apps and if you don’t know where to start, check out my AppBrain page. Also, I redid the TechBottle logo in the header of the blog. Do you like it? Be honest. I’m on the fence about it but I’d rather read and write to the blog than tinker with the logo more.

P.S. I have something brewing with a major carrier. Expect good but very honest hands-on cellphone reviews.  It’s also possible I’ll have some leaked info about upcoming phones soon. Stay tuned!

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I budget most of my social networking time for Google Buzz. Here’s my long-winded why…

Facebook support waivers and A list bloggers like Mashable speculate about the fate of MySpace, but nobody seems to be reporting on Google Buzz. Sure, it faltered out of the gate with a privacy misstep. To briefly recap: users were set to auto-follow their Gmail contacts and those auto-follows could be seen by other Buzz users. However, this was done inadvertently and the problem was patched faster than a speeding bullet. This issue was addressed quite well at SXSW. Google apologized. (It differs significantly from Facebook intentionally taking what was previously private and unapologetically broadcasting it to the entire 400 million plus Facebook community but that’s another post altogether.) Now, in case you were wondering, Buzz doesn’t have any known privacy bugs. You can buzz publicly or privately. You can show or hide your list of people you follow and people who follow you. Has anyone in the media or blogosphere been reporting on this?

To me, this is what makes Google Buzz appealing and more so than competing social networks:

• Building a Buzz environment to your liking: It is easy to build followers and to reciprocate follows. My Google Buzz followers are largely active Buzz users. I have more Google Buzz followers than Twitter followers and I joined Twitter ages ago. I enjoy both reading and writing on Buzz.
• Twitter falls short: Twitter is often difficult to follow. Conversations, which rarely develop, need to be decrypted because of the 140 character limit and the lack of meaningful organization of Tweets. It doesn’t help matters that many active Twitter users tend to be get-rich-quick schemes and pure follow-back whores.
• Facebook is a different animal: Facebook isn’t really about expanding horizons. Sure, I like keeping in touch with people and Facebook makes that easy. I suggest you ask yourself these questions if you think Facebook is the be-all-end-all of social networks: How many new people have you met on Facebook? How many real conversations have you engaged in on Facebook? What is the signal to noise ratio on Facebook? Are you content with Facebook governance and frequent changes in policy?
• The Buzz platform is well designed. Sharing information from Google Reader, YouTube and by URL has never been easier. We are expecting to see the Buzz API opened up at Google I/O which should benefit the platform and accelerate Buzz growth.
• Community support and mobilization: We’ve taught each other how to use Buzz and some conventions for Buzz use have developed. We’ve mobilized to support Buzz and provided feedback to the Google Buzz Team. The Google Buzz Team has responded with improvements and is currently privately beta testing new features.
• Buzz is a community. I have met new people near and far (very far) and joked, shared opinions and debated. Buzz users have engaged and thoroughly discussed many topics. My posts and ideas have generated more discussion on Google Buzz than any other platform. I’m not alone in this regard; other people report the same. It’s nice to have feedback every once in a while from a diverse group of people.

Buzz is social media at its finest! If you were scared off by the privacy glitch and haven’t experienced Buzz recently, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Give Buzz a second chance.

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What the hell is Orkut? It was Google’s first attempt at building a social network. It launched in August of 2008 but never posed a serious challenge to Facebook. As of December 2009, the breakdown of Orkut users by country was 51.09% Brazil, followed by India with 20.02% and United States with 17.28%. Apparently, in Brazil many cafes proudly display the fact that they offer Orkut access. Last night, a bunch of Google Buzz users decided to poke around on Orkut. We even formed a “Community” for Google Buzz Users that anyone can join.

These are my impressions: Orkut’s interface blends Facebook and MySpace both circa 2008. Users follow one another (requiring the followee’s consent) and status updates appear in chronological streams. In this regard, it functions pretty much like Facebook and MySpace and differs from Twitter and Buzz. Like MySpace and unlike Facebook, users can customize their experience by selecting themes and completing detailed and risque profile information (turn ons, turn offs, things you can find in your bedroom, etc.). Many of us tame folks just pasted a link to our Google Profiles that we use for Buzz. One feature that caught my eye today is that users leave “tracks” when they view other people’s Orkut pages. Some might find that objectionable but Orkut otherwise provides significant control over your information, moreso than Facebook does.

Where do I think this is heading? Probably nowhere outside of Brazil and India but it is a Facebook alternative that some people might consider. Some of the Orkut plumbing was probably integrated into Google Wave and Google Buzz. Speaking of Buzz, apparently the API is going to be released at Google I/O, per a buzz by Robert Scoble, which could boost activity. In my opinion, Buzz is alive and well despite the hiccups at launch and dearth of media attention since then. Leo Laporte, Louis Gray, Robert Scoble and other tech notables routinely hang out on Buzz. It’s really become an interesting platform because headlines, excerpts and full posts become launchpads for in depth discussions that don’t (couldn’t?) occur on Facebook and Twitter. Also, some users have reported that improvements are being privately beta tested on Buzz, although details are scarce.

If you click over to Buzz, feel free to follow me or if you want to try out Orkut send me a friend request.

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I am having fun with Google Buzz, much more than I ever had with Twitter. It took a couple of weeks for common buzz practices to develop and I thought I’d share some of it with those considering buzzing. Here are some tips for absolute beginners on Buzz…

How do I get many followers?

One of the best methods of attracting followers is to begin following people. Many people will follow back. Another good method is to comment on popular buzzes with insightful remarks. Do some Buzz searches for topics that interest you and comment on relevant buzzes.

One way to lose followers is to import tweets from a twitter account. Many Buzz users find tweet importing annoying.

What can I do to spark conversation?

Ask a question. The most popular buzzes, even those from the large blogs, are those that begin with a question. Also, add a picture or link to the buzz. Buzzes with pictures attract attention. Use bold when asking your question. You can do this by putting a * before and after your question.

Have fun with it!

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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”

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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:

1. 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.
2. 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.

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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.

What do I mean by “succeed”?  I mean that Google Buzz becomes a useful repository for information sharing that is frequented by many for news, opinions and sometimes everyday chatter.

Google Buzz Differs from Existing Social Networks

If Google Buzz succeeds, then a relentless flow of information will come into Google Buzz making it very sticky. This is very unlike Twitter, which I contend is not a very sticky site at all. Almost all tweets, other than casual banter, have outbound links. This has created a cottage industry in URL shortening. Tweets are essentially headlines that direct people away from Twitter into a different realm, often the blogosphere. While Google Buzz could be used to drive traffic into a different realm, it is much more sticky for a few reasons. First, there’s no character limit on Buzzes. Google Buzz could be a substitute for blogs, particularly simple ones like the Posterous blogs. (This is a topic I mused about before: “Google Buzz could become a Substitute for Blogs if…”). Second, there’s absolutely no start-up cost and it is easy to begin buzzing. You can login and can begin almost immediately. You don’t have to mess with customizing WordPress. Third, unlike Twitter (and Facebook to some extent), Google Buzz has very good support for images and video. Rich content buzzes are quite common. With Twitter, you needed an outbound link to see any rich content at all with the exception of user avatars. Fourth, Google Buzz has a good commenting system (which is likely to be improved) and discussions are easy to follow, unlike Twitter. With Twitter, even if you read a post on a blog and decide to comment, most likely you would do so on the blog and not via Twitter. Google Buzz, on the other hand, is self-contained and comprehensive.

Google Buzz is designed to draw people away from other sites and into Buzz. It’s baked into Gmail which many millions of people use daily. Google’s popular RSS reader also draws people into Google Buzz through prominent links in Reader. Google made apps for phones and cooked in a location sharing sharing feature via Google Maps (a la FourSquare). Picasa is wired into Google Buzz. Every buzz has an email link at the bottom for sharing it. This draws people into Google Buzz, not away from it. In other words, Google Buzz is well integrated with other properties in the Google ecosystem.

If Google Buzz Succeeds and it’s as “Sticky” as I say, then…

First, traffic to blogs will go down as Google Buzz becomes a substitute for blogging. As long as people can locate people with similar interests (and I’m sure there are third party sites mimicking “WeFollow” as I type and Google may roll something out too), affinity groups can stick with Google Buzz. Second, with rebuzzing, sharing via Google Reader and upcoming integration with Google News, sites that simply aggregate news will be irrelevant and unprofitable. Third, if aggregators are “buzzed out,” then what about the fate of publications like Mashable/TechCrunch or old media like the local newspaper? I predict that they will publish more original content  and less “mash-ups” or aggregated content. Further, they will be leery of  publishing their content to Google Buzz. Instead, they will try to stick to the Twitter model and drive people with outbound links to their websites to generate advertising revenue. Already, we’re seeing Mashable which boasts 2.3 million followers post outbound links as opposed to publishing directly into Google Buzz. This model could succeed if the original content is attractive enough to draw people away from Google Buzz to read it and the person chooses the outbound link over Google Reader.

How does Facebook fit into the picture? Surprise: Facebook wants to become what Google Buzz already is.

If Google Buzz does succeed and the blogosphere contracts, particularly the amateur blogosphere, it will do so where Twitter and Facebook have failed. As I already discussed, Twitter’s model was to aggregate headlines but it has not produced a sticky site. Facebook is a very sticky site but not for the same reasons Google Buzz will become a very sticky site.  Facebook is sticky because people want to share their life’s experience with people they know and/or read about friends and family.  Major media outlets and significant blogs have not yet gotten much traction on Facebook. People don’t want to pollute their stream of friends’ news with other content (like the backlash against Zynga’s games publishing into streams). Accordingly, I believe Google Buzz is very unlike Facebook… and in a useful sort of way. While theoretically Google Buzz could be used like Facebook, it is better suited as a sticky news and opinion social network of sorts. This is one of Facebook’s goals but Google actually has a significant head start because of its integration with other Google properties. This runs absolutely counter to what you read elsewhere that Google Buzz is a startup challenging a 400 million strong Facebook. I contend that Google is today buzzing with what Facebook wants to become. (Perhaps I just answered the question of whether Facebook and Google Buzz can coexist. Yes, Facebook for friends and family and Google Buzz for news-worthy content and opinions.)

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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).

Some buzzers are reposting news articles and other material that comes to them by RSS via Google Reader.  The integration among many different Google properties is truly amazing. In addition to Google Reader integration, there’s Google Maps for viewing local buzz, Google Profiles for sharing contact information (you can verify email addresses and even your name, similar to what some high profile people did on Twitter) and a reportedly well-designed app for Android.

There’s plenty of support among tech blogs for Google Buzz. Tech Crunch rolled out a “Buzz This” button and Mashable followed soon thereafter. Some blogs posted DIY instructions for Buzz This buttons. Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable, has had some significant interactions with readers. Presently, he is soliciting ideas for Mashable articles.

I haven’t seen much in the way of celebrities or news outlets using or promoting Google Buzz. Ashton Kutcher, where are you? Are you going to challenge CNN in this new forum?

If you have ideas for improving Google Buzz, you can submit them here: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=buzz … but let’s hope the Buzz team gets some sleep and enjoys the Olympics like the rest of us.

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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.

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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.

If you haven’t watched the video, I’ll sum it up. Google’s core strength is the search business. Google wants to be branded indelibly as the map for the internet. (It didn’t pick the Parisian Love Superbowl advertisement by accident.) Up until now, Google crawled the web to map it. The map was periodically (but not continually) updated. Some sites refreshed daily, some hourly and some nearly instantaneously. Now, more and more, consumers are looking for instantaneous news and communication. Google Buzz was created primarily to bring content to Google instead of the present model of crawling the wires to update Google’s map of the web.

The Twitter Argument

If you want breaking news, you can find it on Twitter and find it faster than anywhere else because all major news outlets bring content to Twitter. Twitter is the king of real-time news. Twitter doesn’t crawl for anything. Google got very lucky recently when it inked a non-exclusive deal to index Twitter. (Microsoft did too.) Although little is known about the contract, the rumor is that Twitter received a combined $25 million for the indexing deals (which, in turn, put Twitter in the black for 2009). This is a threat to Google for a variety of reasons. First, the contract may not be renewed or could go exclusively to Microsoft in the future. Also, the entire Twitter company could fall into unfriendly hands. Google does not like relying on any company that may not commit itself to “openness.” Second, Google probably paid more for the Twitter contract than it cost Google to build its own Twitter-like service, Google Buzz. Third, Google Buzz is virtually guaranteed to be more successful than Twitter due to the tie-in with Gmail which has an installed active user-base of approximately 174 million regular users.

Why Facebook Isn’t a Serious Threat Yet

Facebook has yet to challenge Google’s model of mapping the web. While you can do rudimentary web searches through Facebook, nobody does. Facebook is not populated with the same real-time news content as Twitter. This trend is shifting with the growing number of fan pages and professional accounts but up until now Facebook was simply a place to crack a joke to a large crowd, post pictures of kids or invite people to a party.

HOWEVER, Facebook could easily become a serious threat. It is among the most sticky of all websites. It has an installed user-base of over 400 million users. If it made a serious push to have meaningful content come to Facebook (news outlets, blogs, etc.), it could challenge Google’s efforts to be the best map of the internet perpetually.

Predictions

Twitter will get wiped off the map by Google Buzz. It may continue to exist in a MySpace-like state. Some lesser player could buy it or it might have a weak IPO. The real fight will be Google vs. Facebook but that’s on the horizon and will only occur if Facebook makes a meaningful effort to map the web. The scariest scenario for Google would be Microsoft and Facebook uniting forces. Bing plus Facebook could mount a meaningful long-term challenge to Google. Keep in mind that Microsoft already has a small piece of Facebook. So, Google isn’t simply looking for a piece of the social networking business. It is also playing defense to keep its dominance in mapping the world’s information.

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In the YouTube video below Kevin Rose explains why he believes Google created Buzz. The video is enlightening and thought provoking.

[via YouTube]

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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.

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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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. The “Mute” button is dangerously close to the “Unfollow” button.
5. 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.

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