if enough are irritated by it. But, they really had to integrate it to get a critical mass. Without integrating it, there would be a small fraction that would go to a separate page, and sign up. If it is automatically integrated with what you already use, people are about 1000X more likely to use it.
MS knows this very well after integrating IE into Windows.
By even writing this post I am breaking a promise to my friend Mack Collier. Earlier today I publicly promised to him on Twitter that I was going to wait a while before posting any opinions on Google Buzz until I got a firm grasp on how to use it. Yet, after only toying with it on and off for a handful of hours, there are a couple of issues I can’t help but call out now, primarily around the intrusiveness of the way this thing works. Mack, I am sorry.
If you haven’t tried it yet, Google Buzz integrates with your Gmail account (and other Google services) and turns it into a social experience. A “buzz” is a threaded conversation not unlike what FriendFeed tried to be (with pictures and video and blog links and more) and you can either post publicly (which shows up on your main Google profile) or selectively choose who in your friends list sees your buzz.
This is all fine and I was having a good time with it for a while. I briefly complained about the amount of Buzz notifications that I was getting through my external email client but that was quickly fixed with a filter. But the whole experience makes me feel somewhat violated and out of control. And, unlike other social networks that I can hide while I try to do work or catch up with communications, Buzz is in my face every time I go to Gmail.
For one, there’s no hiding from it. If you’re on Gmail, you’re buzzable. You can choose not to buzz and you can choose not to follow others but you can’t really choose not to participate (Updated: There is an option to turn off Buzz at the very bottom of your Gmail pane). If you are using Google Picasa and Google Reader yet are not wholly aware of Buzz, you may not realize what you are publishing and promoting to your Buzz stream because you may not know it exists. Yes, Virginia, there are people who don’t live and breathe social networking.
