Google Buzz: Who Needs It?
That buzz you're hearing about Google Buzz just may be the sound of thousands of social media enthusiasts snoring from acute social media fatigue.
It's not that people are turned off by social media -- quite the contrary. It's just that we may have reached saturation. Let's face it: Many of us already interact with the exact same people on Twitter and Facebook; sending the same joke to yet another platform feels pointless. Here's what I mean: Buzz #1: As I was starting to write this post a few days ago, a discussion thread unfolded in my Google Buzz concerning how to lessen your number of followers. (Google Buzz, remember, came out of the gate with users auto-following some people based on past behavior; it then moved to an auto-suggest model on Saturday, much like Facebook's.) But back to the discussion, which featured. among others, Steve Rubel, senior vice president and director of insights for Edelman Digital. "Seeking signals, not noise, I just trimmed down the list of people I am following on Google Buzz." Not a good sign. Buzz #2: Social media swami Robert Scoble, who has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter, let it be known on Buzz that his tweets would no longer appear on the service. He explained:
I am no longer bringing in Tweets here. I find there's enough noise in the world and, like on Facebook, I find there aren't enough tools here to remove that noise. Tweets are mostly noise right now because most people who are using Buzz are also using Twitter. So even a good tweet is noise here because most people are seeing it twice. So, until Google Buzz gives us much better filtering tools I'm not going to add to this noise.Buzz #3: If the decision to launch Buzz comes down to Google wanting to get in on social networking ad revenue, advertisers may not be enthusiastic. I recently spoke with Reggie Bradford, who heads Vitrue, a service that helps advertisers engage with consumers on Facebook and other platforms. "We're finding that people have gotten their fingernails dirty in Facebook," he says, "and they want to go deep and wide and experience that."
The fundamental problem I see with Buzz is that while Gmail users didn't ask for this; it is being imposed upon them (yes, including me) at a time when we are past needing it. While there are ways to shut Buzz down, the "on" position is the default. It shows up right beneath the link to the "Inbox." That speaks volumes about Google's priorities, and not about the priorities of its users.
To make Buzz work, Google will need to prove that it is somehow necessary to Gmail users, not that Gmail users are necessary to furthering the company's social networking ambitions. Otherwise, expect Buzz to join the pile of wannabes on the social media scrap heap.