A lot has happened in the last 2 months of this year. First, Steve Jobs released the IPad and now Google announces Google buzz a product that is set to lock horns with twitter and facebook.
The obvious question is, will this flop or rock?
The giant, Google in recent times has been trampling and encroaching into any turf that looks lucrative or challenges their supremacy as the lords of the web.
They fought Microsoft in the OS and web browser market with Google OS and Google chrome respectively.it also fought with yahoo in the email market with its now popular Gmail.
It has won and lost some of these fights. Some of its products are in the top of the market, some are nowhere.
Will Google buzz be another winner or big loser?
I have compiled some points for and against it. I am deliberately not going to say if it will rock or suck, I will leave you to be the judge of that.
REASONS WHY GOOGLE BUZZ WILL FLOP?
1. IT DOESN’T FILL A VACUUM
Before Google buzz there was a lovable service called twitter. In fact, Google buzz is only a twitter lookalike without a 140 character restriction. It is coming into a space already occupied twitter. Facebook tried fighting twitter and has not really made much impact. Twitter is the first here and being the first is always very important. Google buzz will find it hard to kick twitter hard unless they bring something new to the table.
2. NO AUTOMATIC UPDATES
Looking at Google buzz, it lacks some features used on twitter. It lacks automatic updates of links and automatic shortening of links. You can only ad links by adding it manually by using a tool provided. This waste time and is not smooth.
Goggle buzz fails.
update:I latter found out that if you have your websites or blogs listed or registered in Google webmater service…automatic updates are possible…very awesome
3. IT IS NEW
Twitter is an old service and website that is now deeply rooted in the web and social web culture. Applications, tools, websites, services, soft wares and plug-ins etc have been made to accommodate and maximize the use of this website. They are used on websites, WebPages, blogs and integrated in everywhere imaginable.
People dumping all these to line up to use Google buzz is very unlikely.
4. No 140 CHARACTER RESTRICTIONS
Twitter is cool because of its simplicity and brevity. You can only tweet 140 characters per tweet. With less that 140 characters you can pass on information without bugging people with too much information. Google buzz lacks this, which means any one can pack lengthy posts as updates. This kills the simplicity and brevity exhibited by twitter.
People will rather save their time and stick with twitter.
Google buzz will fix this and may add a character restriction or people may be tired of 140 characters and need more.
5. NO LINKS TO THE OUTSIDE
Twitter has millions of links to other websites, blogs and web pages. People use twitter because of this. It sends traffic to their businesses because of this.
Google buzz only links to internal links and services in its empire. The only external being twitter itself.(other links must be added manually). This is limiting and selfish.
Nobody wants to promote Google products and services people want to drive traffic to their businesses. Hence Google buzz fails.
Update:with your websites and blogs listed in Google webmaster service,you can have updates automatically from these external websites and blogs…really awesome
6. NO RETWEETS
Google buzz right now does not have any tool to resend an update post. This would be similar to the retweet tool found on twitter.
This makes twitter more efficient. Google buzz fails here too.
Update:the only thing that looks like a retweet is the Like button ,email and comments buttond.This makes sharing possible but not as smooth as a retweet.
7. ONLY GMAIL USERS
Google is limited to only Gmail users. This shuts out none Gmail users. Well, they have over 176 millions would be users already. Twitter in the other hand, has no such restrictions. Any one can use twitter and not any one can use Google buzz.
Truth is, this can increase the use Gmail as people may try to come in
REASONS WHY GOOGLE BUZZ WILL NOT FLOP
1. LARGE TEST USERS
Google buzz is leveraging on its 176 million Gmail users to test run the new service. This is far greater than the number of twitter users and is a great way to test run a service or product without running out to beg and advertise to people to try the service.
This is a great start for Google buzz. The number of Google buzz users can beat the number of twitter users in months.
2. NO 140 CHARACTER LIMIT
Google buzz has no character limit. People may be tired and bored of using twitter because of this limitation. Google buzz may be the only way out for these odd balls.
3. LINK TO TWITTER ACCOUNT
The only outside link to Google buzz right now is twitter. If you are a Gmail user you can easily start automatically updating your updates to Google buzz from your twitter account. That will kill the need to be on twitter.
4. THE PROBLEMS AGAINST GOOGLE BUZZ CAN BE FIXED
I mentioned quite a number of reasons why twitter will triumph over Google buzz. The truth is Over 70 percent of these problems can be fixed with a little effort from Google.
The only big one would be that twitter is well integrated with the social web and the general web world. Google might find this difficult to fix.
5. EASY SWITCH TO GMAIL
Imagine if twitter had a web mail service, something like a facebook service. You wouldn’t have to jump from website to website. Just a simple click on the same window would take you there.
Well, this is what Google is doing with Gmail and Google buzz. You can easily switch from Gmail to Gbuzz (this is what I will love to call it and Google should call it) with a simple click. From sending an e-mail to sending a buzz.
Really cool if you ask me.
6. OTHER TOP GOOGLE PRODUCTS
Google is the king in many markets (or are strong contenders). This giant web empire has so many products we all are enjoying. From YouTube, Gmail, Picasa, Google alert, Google analytics, etc and so many more are being developed in their labs.
Google will easily integrate Google buzz (GBuzz) with these kings of the web. This will subtly force us to use Gbuzz .This is a very big plus for Google and GBuzz.
So there you have it, reasons why Google buzz will rock or suck.
Now, over to you.
What is your verdict? Will you use Google buzz.
you can connect with me on google buzz…here is my profile http://google.com/profiles/mkusua/
While I don’t think it will necessarily flop, I cannot see it gaining the popularity of Twitter. It has the backing of Google which will make a lot of people use it, but it will be interesting to see how many continue too after a couple of months.
.-= Tom | Build That List´s last blog ..Do Your Dreams Pass The ‘Wet Manure’ Test? =-.
if you ask me,i believe twitter will find kinda hard fighting with google buzz…the odds are stacked against it…
I really had every intention of checking out Google Buzz, but the no outside linking is a killer. I am a business owner and finding new ways to generate new business is my onloy goal, no sense on wasting my time now.
.-= Extreme John´s last blog ..A Day in the Life of.. Episode 2 [video] =-.
Personally I think that Google Buzz’s submission was a little too early, especially in regards to privacy. I really think that Google is going down the path that Windows went through around the time of Windows 98. The latest releases and releases seem to be less and less thought out and I also feel like rushed in an attempt to be 1st to market, and or compete with its competitors releases. The privacy issue was an issue that did not require was a very simple issue to figure out, a very simple review session would have identified such issues. Do you think Google may have received too much credit last year?
I think your blog is great. I found it on Bing.
Hi, Very interesting article. I am quite impressed and just wanted to let you know that you did a fine job on this article. However, I do have some unanswered questions that I would like to ask you. I will contact you via email so that you can clear some of these things up for me. Again, very well written article. Keep up the good work.
Hi MK,
It been a few weeks since you did this post and I think Buzz has grown tremendously since that time.
You can take a look at my Buzz tips here in the commentluv link. My advice to you is to unhook your Twitter account from Buzz. Since Buzz is about meeting new people and having conversations, it is better if you post your thoughts about a topic or a blog link with a little teaser directly into Buzz. It will help you gain more followers.
If you want to follow me here’s my profile http://www.google.com/profiles/msileane#buzz
Hang in there because Buzz is going to get better.
Thanks!
@Ileane
.-= Ileane @ Ms. Ileane Speaks´s last blog ..A Growing List of Top Google Buzz Tips =-.
Hi ileane,
that post has been given me some steady traffic.frankly i rarely use it .thanks for your advice..
Hey, this is my first comment on ur site. I’ve been reading it for a while in my RSS reader but haven’t commented before.
Anyways, thanks for the post.