Jeffrey Way

Buzz will get right what Wave got wrong. At first glance, they’re two completely different platforms that really can’t be compared. One is essentially a Twitter copycat, while the other was meant to allow for real-time collaborations.

The problem with Wave is that it wasn’t integrated into Gmail from the start. By forcing people to access a different service - one that the majority of their contacts won’t be using - Google Wave was dead on arrival.

This is where Buzz can truly shine, and perhaps evolve over the next year into something more like Wave. With this method, unless the user disables Buzz entirely, it’s nearly impossible for a Gmailer not to participate in some form or another.

Case in Point

My mom is over fifty, and only has a very modest knowledge of computers and the internet; the extent of which being how to check/send email, and browse the web. Realistically, this is probably true for most people over a certain age bracket. To my amazement, within about ten hours of Buzz’s launch, she, without the urging of any of her tech savvy children, Buzzed!

My first thought was, “How does she even know about this?” The answer, of course, being that it’s impossible not to. When you login to Gmail, you’re immediately redirected - at least at first - to the Google Buzz homepage.

The Next Step

Buzz is definitely fun, and adds a community aspect that Twitter is fully missing. If someone I respect asks a question on Twitter - one that I’m curious about the answer to - the only way for me to review the responses is to perform a search for the creator’s username. How silly!

As I mentioned earlier today, Buzz has cleverly managed to position itself as the perfect median between Twitter and Facebook: more community, and less Farmville gifts. But with all that said, it still adds yet another social network to sporadically check through out the day. To truly succeed, in my opinion, Buzz, and specifically Google, must provide the official version of what Threadsy is trying to achieve: in one window, allow me to check my email, and send/receive messages on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, their native Buzz service. As soon as this is a reality, I’ve no doubt that it’ll become a full replacement for my Twitter client of choice, Echofon. Until then, it’s only another window - and I have enough of those!