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Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

calacanis.com

31–40 of 57 posts

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judging from my group of friends, most people who use Facebook do not use Gmail. I'm not sure how well this transfers to the rest of the world, but for almost all of my Facebook friends, none of them will hear of Buzz through Gmail.

Locking it to the gmail account is a bad idea. It might make business sense for Google but for becoming a Facebook or Twitter killer, it is not with that limitation.

agree... and i bet they will make it part of your google profile and available for just that.

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#32
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook's value isn't going to vary any unless there is some migration from Facebook to Buzz. It has been done before. Do you remember Prodigy? CompuServe? AOL? MySpace? For that matter, how often do you use the search engines Excite, Lycos, AltaVista, or whatever Microsoft's search engine was before Bing? Users go where the user experience is pleasant. Advertisers look for click-throughs, and try to estimate eyebal…

Not many people in my "social circle" use gmail [that I know of] where as _everyone_ uses facebook... Also, in general, no one ever likes facebook UI updates, yet they never leave.

I think for some people they have opposed so many UI updates on facebook that they no longer remember which UI they considered good.

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#33

God I feel like I'm being trolled here, but I'll bite. Let's assume Google Buzz is undeniably better than Facebook. Let's also assume no one is really invested in the 90% of Facebook functionality that Google Buzz doesn't address. Hell, let's assume any user who tries Google Buzz will instantly declare eternal allegiance to Larry and Sergey and immediately delete their Facebook account. Even with all those dramatical…

Look at the sick amount on activity on this thread.... and this is day one of Buzz. http://bit.ly/daBl66 100+ people like it. ~200 comments from quality people. This is game over for Facebook for everyone who doesn't play Farmville. I've never seen pickup like that, and that is with just 2,000 followers. I have 25k followers on my fanpage on Facebook and 5k on my normal facebook page. in fact, i've never seen pickup…

"quality people" is the problem. Facebook has already broken out of the insiderish valley echo chamber and has mass appeal. That's a really tough thing to overcome.

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judging from my group of friends, most people who use Facebook do not use Gmail. I'm not sure how well this transfers to the rest of the world, but for almost all of my Facebook friends, none of them will hear of Buzz through Gmail.

Locking it to the gmail account is a bad idea. It might make business sense for Google but for becoming a Facebook or Twitter killer, it is not with that limitation.

It's a great idea in light of Facebook incorporating more email features into it's services.

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the sick amount on activity on this thread.... and this is day one of Buzz. http://bit.ly/daBl66 100+ people like it. ~200 comments from quality people. This is game over for Facebook for everyone who doesn't play Farmville. I've never seen pickup like that, and that is with just 2,000 followers. I have 25k followers on my fanpage on Facebook and 5k on my normal facebook page. in fact, i've never seen pickup…

well alerts are one thing, but having your address book become your social networking instantly AND having your social network updates threaded into email?!?! that's hot. don't know of anyone ever doing that...

I also fail to see the value add in networking threads being updated in email. The gmail/email interface sucks for that type of interaction. That's pretty much why the social network sites exist, because email threads just aren't the right face for those types of interactions. Especially when you have tens of general purpose messages interspersed with your social stuff.

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#36

God I feel like I'm being trolled here, but I'll bite. Let's assume Google Buzz is undeniably better than Facebook. Let's also assume no one is really invested in the 90% of Facebook functionality that Google Buzz doesn't address. Hell, let's assume any user who tries Google Buzz will instantly declare eternal allegiance to Larry and Sergey and immediately delete their Facebook account. Even with all those dramatical…

Look at the sick amount on activity on this thread.... and this is day one of Buzz. http://bit.ly/daBl66 100+ people like it. ~200 comments from quality people. This is game over for Facebook for everyone who doesn't play Farmville. I've never seen pickup like that, and that is with just 2,000 followers. I have 25k followers on my fanpage on Facebook and 5k on my normal facebook page. in fact, i've never seen pickup…

Hey Jason,

I really can't agree with your assessment. You and Scoble - and I like you both a lot - are in a vastly different position than the people Google made Buzz for.

You guys are pundits (not in a bad sense - you're thought leaders).

Google made Buzz for end users and enterprise. I really don't think it's useful for end users at this point. Too many are reporting problems and dissatisfaction with the UI. As for enterprise, we'll have to see what they end up rolling out.

I appreciate that Buzz has worked well for you so far, but I feel you're being overly enthusiastic about the product.

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#37
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's already in Gmail.

Judging from my group of friends, most people who use Facebook do not use Gmail. I'm not sure how well this transfers to the rest of the world, but for almost all of my Facebook friends, none of them will hear of Buzz through Gmail.

I don't use either, but if I need gmail to try buzz, it's a non-starter for me.

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the sick amount on activity on this thread.... and this is day one of Buzz. http://bit.ly/daBl66 100+ people like it. ~200 comments from quality people. This is game over for Facebook for everyone who doesn't play Farmville. I've never seen pickup like that, and that is with just 2,000 followers. I have 25k followers on my fanpage on Facebook and 5k on my normal facebook page. in fact, i've never seen pickup…

I'll buy that Buzz might create a new niche. Or rather, fill the niche that FriendFeed was aiming at. But that's not the same niche as Twitter, and it's certainly not the same niche as Facebook.

There is a significant portion of twitter though who probably would see value here, seems to make sense for a lot of the tech stuff on twitter.

Your right about facebook though, it doesn't seem the kind of thing that will pull in the less tech inclined. Although some people would have said that about facebook, with it's plain unchanging layout compared to all the things people could do on myspace.

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#39
post #17

God I feel like I'm being trolled here, but I'll bite. Let's assume Google Buzz is undeniably better than Facebook. Let's also assume no one is really invested in the 90% of Facebook functionality that Google Buzz doesn't address. Hell, let's assume any user who tries Google Buzz will instantly declare eternal allegiance to Larry and Sergey and immediately delete their Facebook account. Even with all those dramatical…

It's already in Gmail.

Most people associate email\gmail with work.

Most people associate facebook with procrastination\lols.

More people prefer to procrastinate\lol than to work.

Therefore more people will prefer to Facebook than to Buzz.

Re: Google Buzz is brilliant, Facebook just lost half its value

#40

God I feel like I'm being trolled here, but I'll bite. Let's assume Google Buzz is undeniably better than Facebook. Let's also assume no one is really invested in the 90% of Facebook functionality that Google Buzz doesn't address. Hell, let's assume any user who tries Google Buzz will instantly declare eternal allegiance to Larry and Sergey and immediately delete their Facebook account. Even with all those dramatical…

"Since when do better products automatically win in the tech marketplace?"

Of course they don't always win, but this is what everyone said when MySpace was on top of the world. If Buzz is genuinely better then Facebook needs to be worried. Google has every other ingredient necessary to win.

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