uber.la

[3-4-10: It's been 20 days since I looked in my Google Buzz folder. Am I missing something? What? Now, if you want to jump on a WAVE with me, I'm all fingers and toes.]

How Even the Mighty Google Fails Sometimes. Maybe you can call me Anti-Buzz, or Buzz-Kill, but I am not excited about Buzz at all. Here's why:

Can you tell me one thing Buzz does BETTER than the other tools available? We talked about it at a company dinner last night (and these are smart social media-y kinda folks) and nobody could say why BUZZ was even interesting. Three points of interest might be:

1. Google-always-does-killer-apps? Nah. 2. Plugs into G-mail? Not that interesting. 3. Has a fantastic mobile app? Er… No. I can't wait until the first person asks me, "Did you get my Buzz?" I savor the moment.

So what if these are the struggling throws of a fumbling giant? Google! So strong, so innovative, launching all these pet projects that have no integration and no coherence with one another. How does WAVE tie to Buzz. How does Orkut or Jaiku or Google Profile for that matter, have ANY connection or benefit from a BUZZ link?

Okay, so if I sound frustrated, it's because I am. Buzz is a big miss! We are spending valuable resources and time trying to figure out why we need another tool that really doesn't do much beyond the tools we have.

At Dell, the story goes, when Michael Dell looked at the prototypes of Dell's 2008 entry into the MP3 player market, he asked, "What does it do that the iPod doesn't?"

I think the Google developers need to ask themselves the same question. "How does this tool/project/platform/service provide something that does not exist? Or at the very least, "How does this product kick butt over the other products available?"

When the answer comes up "I dunno!" Perhaps even mighty Google should pause and ask, "Is this product going to move the Google Brand, the Google Application Suite, forward?"

As the Goo-Giant lumbers forward, even BING is getting some love because we kinda want Microsoft to return to some sense of sanity. I mean many of us depend on Windows products to make a living.

Score some HUGE wins for Google: Voice, Sync, Apps, Chrome (browser), Android.

Score some BONERS for Google: WAVE, Buzz, Orkut.

And a few TBD for Google: Caffeine, Real-time search integration, Twitter indexing.

So I'd like to see Google did what Apple did for their Snow Leopard update to OS X. No new features only FASTER, MORE STABLE, and REFINEMENTS. Imagine.

Here's how my G-mail tab looks now that I've killed Buzz.

And here's the link I clicked to kill it: "turn off buzz" will be a trending topic more than "turn on buzz" as shown below.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/why-buzz

Product Review News: Looks into Buzz for a Clue

Yesterday's Anti-Buzz Rant from Uber.la: What's the BUZZ Tell Me What's Happening with Facebook vs Google Buzz?

Update and push back from some: Why Google Buzz is Brilliant by Christopher S. Penn.

And my response:

Okay, I'll be happy to disagree with this one Chris. It's not that I don't like where you are going with your post here, but I think the process of "pruning back hard" is important on Facebook and Twitter and not just a part of adding yourself (or not adding yourself) to the buzz. You are spot on about the clatter and churn washing up within social networks. Even LinkedIN is getting kind of spammy, don't you think? So what are we to do? Join the Buzz-wagon?

I think what we must do, on whatever networks we happen to be fond of, is cut back against the spammers. Box off the trolls. Delete the snipers. Use apps like Disqus to silence the cr*p that makes it across all of our blogs today as "conversation."

There are awesome tools to help you cull your spammers on Twitter. I am sure there will be similar apps for Facebook and perhaps Buzz. But the problem is not solved by adding a new app, the problem is solved by behaving in a new way. By building better habits, purging our "followers" and not just the ones we follow we get more REAL with the social part of the networking.

I love seeing the picture above of you guys. See Brogan is a workin Geek like the rest of us. Sometimes his writing is so damn good, and his approach is so damn real, I forget he's just sittin at the table trying to do better like the rest of us. Rock On CB! And Rock on CSP!

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