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Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?

scobleizer.com

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Re: Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?

#11

Post by avar »

kilps wrote: post #10

The way for Buzz to instantly gain credibility would be for Google to take the Diaspora route and open it up as a decentralised platform. What I've found interesting is that part of what seems to be making Buzz more engaging is how it is tied to your real name (assuming that is what you use for Gmail) - but at the same time that has been part of what has made me hesitant to fully adopting it.

That's what they seemed to be promising with Wave initially, i.e. to make a decentralized and federated protocol. But Buzz doesn't use wave ...

Re: Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?

#12

Post by alanh »

Unless Buzz solves the UX issues I wrote about when it came out, no. http://alanhogan.com/buzz-is-already-dead

Edit: Summary of issues (thanks, sandofsky):

* Reading updates feels like an obligation (river of news vs inbox)

* Doesn't encourage scanning thanks to inline media & longer content

* Visual clutter incl. redundant buttons

* Too many non-friends' comments are visible

Re: Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?

#13

Post by Tichy »

kilps wrote: post #10

The way for Buzz to instantly gain credibility would be for Google to take the Diaspora route and open it up as a decentralised platform. What I've found interesting is that part of what seems to be making Buzz more engaging is how it is tied to your real name (assuming that is what you use for Gmail) - but at the same time that has been part of what has made me hesitant to fully adopting it.

The real name policy sucks if you haven't been able to secure a nice email address on gmail.

Re: Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?

#14

Post by sandofsky »

alanh wrote: post #12

Unless Buzz solves the UX issues I wrote about when it came out, no. http://alanhogan.com/buzz-is-already-dead Edit: Summary of issues (thanks, sandofsky): * Reading updates feels like an obligation (river of news vs inbox) * Doesn't encourage scanning thanks to inline media & longer content * Visual clutter incl. redundant buttons * Too many non-friends' comments are visible

You may want to provide an inline summary of the issues. There's nothing wrong with providing a link to the full version, but providing only the link makes you look self promotional.

Re: Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?

#15

Post by grantheaslip »

I'm assuming Scoble is doing his usual act--that is, construing what he personally likes, what he sees in the Bay area, and what he hears from the "new media" sycophants that comment on his posts for how normal people operate.

Among normal people I know, Twitter has just recently actually become a thing that they're at least aware of and use a bit. They might have seen Google Buzz when it got unceremoniously foisted upon them (which I still think was a sleazy move on Google's part), but they ignored it and are probably more or less confused as to what value it offers them or even what it is. And frankly, so am I--I find using Twitter hard enough to rationalise, and left Facebook months ago. Why do I need yet another social network?

Scoble's life may revolve around churning up page views for his bullshit, and he may have the time and incentive to sign up for every new social media site that pops up and actually think that they matter, but the other 99.9% of us are too busy actually doing something productive with our lives.

Re: Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?

#17

Post by tzury »

the reason i do not use or at least try google buzz is because I do not use gmail. I use google apps which provide gmail platform for my domain, and therefore have no reason to login to my old gmail account. IMHO, google should either add the buzz to the google apps suite or put the buzz on a separate site.

Re: Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?

#18

Post by ananthrk »

grantheaslip wrote: post #15

I'm assuming Scoble is doing his usual act--that is, construing what he personally likes, what he sees in the Bay area, and what he hears from the "new media" sycophants that comment on his posts for how normal people operate. Among normal people I know, Twitter has just recently actually become a thing that they're at least aware of and use a bit. They might have seen Google Buzz when it got unceremoniously foisted…

Please avoid mixing your response with an attack on the author

Re: Is it time to reconsider Google Buzz vs Facebook or Twitter?

#20

Post by robotron »

gaiusparx wrote: post #2

Buzz really needs its own site and identity, separated from GMail. As much as Google likes it, their GMail/GDoc interface can be "busy" to me. I hope for cleaner interface, but this is just personal preference I guess.

Yep, totally agree. The mobile version of Buzz is dedicated to Buzz and it's an order of magnitude better than the 'embedded in Gmail' version for desktops.
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