Day two of Google Buzz brought activation of the Buzz link in my Gmail.

So while the mobile version was good, the real thing on my laptop was better.  You wouldn't believe the fun I had once I could Buzz in earnest.

Since I've been on Friendfeed the past year, like a lot of other Friendfeed regulars, I had no problems adapting to Google Buzz.  It was also great to see Robert Scoble starting some great threads, something he'd dropped back a bit from after Friendfeed's founders ended up working for Facebook.

My Gmail inbox only fills up with Buzzes where I've joined a conversation that someone else has started.  In the Buzz section itself, all the people I follow post either short updates, or start a thread.  My Google profile rounds it out in showing me all the Buzzes I've personally done.

Perhaps that's where I've a small complaint...although this is all theoretically integrated, I tend to think it misses a consistent UI.  At the moment I have to have a tab for Reader, a tab for Buzz/Gmail and a tab for my profile to really get the best use.  Sure, I can share anything in Reader TO Buzz, but I'm not seeing it from Reader, so it's not quite the integration I'd feel the most comfortable with.

That's about my only real complaint.  I can still share things from elsewhere any number of ways.  It's that versatile.

Then it really comes into its own when I apply the search box.  We have two search buttons next to the box, one for searching Buzzes, the other for searching the Web.  That's where you get signal instead of noise, searching for just a specific name or topic and watching the Buzzes for that search come into view, whether it be a short update or a bigger thread/discussion.

I've seen a couple of Buzzes earlier today mentioning various search operators which can also be used, not unlike how its done in Friendfeed.

Of course, some new people are scratching their heads on the style of Buzz, but anyone with Friendfeed experience is having the time of their lives.  Since the sale of Friendfeed (or actually the founders) to Facebook, a lot of FF regulars have been wanting something as good.  Now they've found it.

And there's going to be some brilliant jokes or "buzz-words" cropping up any second.

So...and yes, this is going to be a groaner...the Buzz is building.

This week brought the news that Facebook had acquired the Friendfeed founders and their expertise, though it raised the possibility that FF itself would eventually be shuttered.

It's kind of sad, because Friendfeed as a service is a vast improvement on Twitter, done better, scalable and primed for growth.

On the other hand, it may make for some interesting improvments to Facebook itself.

Friendfeed users have been looking at alternatives, though in real terms Friendfeed has been light-years ahead of the rest.

Is Google Reader an alternative?  Well, you can add a lot of your Twitter feeds into it, those of your followers or those you youself follow, as well as any news feed.  On the other hand, it's not as if it comes with a readymade, strong network of friends.

It is still very good for aggregating what you want, then sending items to all your social media services.  It allows for custom "send to" links and even "save to PDF."  It doesn't really seem that good at building a network of friends and followers like Twitter and Friendfeed can.

Look to Google Reader mainly as a way of piping interesting news items to your other social media, but not for an easy way of networking.

Then there's Streamy.

This service was "blessed" early in the week as an alternative to Friendfeed, resulting in a major increase and load on its infrastructure.  The service was caught a bit by surprise with this.

It enables you to have a tabbed look at your various social media, as well as news items it has categorized.  Again, however, you have to bring a readymade network to it.

I consider it as having potential, but I can see it also having a few minor drawbacks as well.  I'd consider it still a stage or two away from being a true Friendfeed replacement.

In the past few hours I've heard of Storytlr, which is a nice little aggregator and lifestreaming service.  As yet I can't see how friends, followers or networks are made in it, but I do see it as enabling the archiving of your Twitter stream.

Stories in Storytlr are what I'm looking at and experimenting with at the moment.  My only complaint with the Story mode is that it burdens the user with an extra click and page, although it enables you to put together a series of tweets or other updates from elsewhere in a titled theme.  In addition, it still allows for standard posts, links, images, audio and video.

It's themable, too.

I'd have preferred Friendfeed being sold to someone who'd kept the site and its features intact, because it still works fantastically in its current form.  While these alternatives cover some of the features of FF, they don't really do all the things at once.

We'll have to see what happens over the next few months.  By then we'll also have a better idea of how these other alternatives rise to the challenge.

I'd still like to see Facebook keeping Friendfeed running, though I won't hold my breath on that.