Alright, Google, You've Got Me Buzzing Again

I haven't gotten Google Buzz just yet, but I've seen enough to have some first impressions. Google Buzz is a social element that is being rolled out as we speak to GMail users. All GMail users. It sits in the user's left sidebar, and acts as a hub for a handful of social networks, with (presumably) more to come. On first glance you might think "Oh, this looks familiar." and you'd be right. It looks a lot like Friendfeed, with one key difference: a MASSIVE built-in user-base. It's simple: if you're a GMail  user, you're a Buzz user. 

It also has a huge mobile component, with networks like Foursquare in its sights. It integrates with Android phones in Google Maps, and tags your Buzzes with your lat/long or snaps to the nearest location. Sounds a lot like Google Latitude which launched last year, but Google assures us they will remain separate, just work very closely together.

Buzz promises to create conversations and make it easy to share what we're thinking, but that sounds a lot like Twitter, too. Well, with all these cries of ripoff, as fair as they are, we have to remember, it doesn't matter if it's been done before, so long as you do it better. If Google can make Buzz work (and it's got the user-base to do so), then more power to them. But this is a heavy load to take on. Each of the contenders in their respective fields is a heavy hitter, so they better bring their A-game. It its current iteration, it's not much of a threat with the exception of the installed user-base, but always remember that age old adage: "If at first you don't succeed, call it 1.0."

Head to http://buzz.google.com for some info and keep an eye on your GMail for when it rolls out to you.
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