George Hall Online

Exploring Social Media, Tech And Gadgets

A Week Of Buzz Later...

Buzzem_mobile1

I've been using the mobile version of Google Buzz on my phone and my desktop's Safari browser since the weekend, hardly needing to go into Gmail.

So today it was time to have a look at the Gmail version again and see if anything major had changed.

There was some good news.  Threads were now collapsed, showing only the start of the thread and the final comment, then between the number of other messages in the whole thread.  This seems to be the default action now.

It's a welcome change.

This is where the mobile version excelled and why I continued to use it instead of Gmail.

Google's been quick to make changes and apologies, especially with peoples' concerns over privacy.  Its Mea Culpa is now on record.

One can't really blame Google for wanting a success in the social media space...but it failed to remember that the best services have taken off when the users themselves led the charge.  It's also discovered that social media is especially where you get a crowd-sourced backlash if you get something majorly wrong.

My main gripe, if I have any, is that it's significantly top-heavy with the power users at the moment.  I AM a fan of Scoble, of Louis Gray, of Mashable and Techcrunch.  I find their stuff actually very informative and thought-provoking.  However, I'd also like to read the thoughts of ordinary Buzz users.  The thing is, how far down do I have to scroll to find the other people?  Too far at the moment.

Even Scoble has pointed out this week that one flaw even at Friendfeed was the fact a thread would always rise back to the top if anyone commented on it days or weeks later.  As he pointed out, Buzz adopted the same flaw.  That was always balanced at FF by having groups and lists to further organise things and separate your power users from your ordinary ones.

Interestingly, Buzz users have noticed very quickly that aggregation of outside services into Buzz creates a lot of duplicate content.

Friendfeed users worked that out a while ago.

Still, let's remember...this was only the first week.

Hear That Buzzing...

Thebuzzprofile

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.