By Suzanne Panoplos
It is been my observation that Google is never first to the party with any of their new product or service roll outs; but somehow, they always end up being the life of it. If you look back in Google history, they certainly weren’t the first to develop a search engine. At the risk of dating myself, Alta Vista and Lycos were around long before Google became mainstream. And, they definitely weren’t the first to build a business based on on-line advertising but let’s face the facts - Google was the first company to turn a profit with this model.
The list could go on forever – there are just so many groundbreaking technologies that were launched long before Google entered the fray– from free email to mobile operating systems to video distribution. Yet somehow, Google always ends up on top.
Google’s latest innovation, Google Buzz, has done with its name promises –it has the industry buzzing. Google Buzz is a service that enables users to share thoughts, visuals and social media updates with all of their “friends” using Gmail as the conduit. Its no surprise that Google has followed on the heels of Twitter and Facebook with their latest announcement; however, what is surprising is that they would choose to name their service “Buzz”, two years after Yahoo’s failed attempt to launch Yahoo Buzz in 2008.
From the early reports, most people seem to either love Google Buzz or just don’t get it. Naysayers have highlighted the potential security issues and privacy concerns involved with opening up your Gmail address and your contacts’ addresses as well. Advocates can’t stop talking about it easy-to-use interface and of course, the connection to Gmail.
Google itself is releasing very impressive stats -- 9 million posts and comments in the first 56 hours, amounting to around 160,000 posts and comments per hour. Additionally, they are touting numbers that indicate 200 mobile check-ins per minute or 300,000 mobile check-ins per day.
I decided to take a look at it myself to figure out where I sat in the great debate. I must admit that I only spent about an hour playing with Google Buzz but found myself constantly wondering why I needed yet another place to update my status. So for now, I don’t love it or hate it and keep asking myself - why all the buzz?
Comments