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Google Buzz May Cause More of a Buzz than Intended
Google has never been one to shy away from trying out new ideas and innovations, and with their Google Labs website dedicated to showcasing their latest experiments, there is usually a wide variety of upcoming features to try out that are connected with the search giant. With all the hype of social media that is becoming ever more popular, one of Google's latest projects that has recently lost its beta status and gone live is Google Buzz – Google's foray into the social media world.
The basic outline of Google Buzz follows the same outlay as websites such as Facebook – the user posts a Buzz which can be read by all the followers of that particular account, and vice versa. However, if the same user also has accounts with websites such as Picasa and Twitter, these can be integrated into the Buzz interface so all feeds are accessible – rather like RSS. Google Chat status messages and Google Reader shared items will also appear in the results. It can be used on both PC and mobile phones, to aid user accessibility, and doesn’t require any complicate set up processes as it is integrated with existing Googlemail accounts.
This may all seem fine and dandy, but Google has recently suffered from rather more of a buzz with the launching of Buzz than originally intended – Canadian officials have stated that they are investigating whether or not their privacy laws may have been violated by the free service. Any website that deals in real time publication of user comments and issues is always going to be at risk of this sort of infringement, but Google is not alone in facing allegations from the Canadian government. Facebook was also recently questioned for the same offence, and forced to make changes to it's privacy policy as a result. However, Google may be feeling the shock more than most, as Google Docs has also been questioned recently by the same office for the same problem.
However, it isn't only those in authority that are having problems with Google Buzz. As it adds all Gmail contacts to it's feed, there have been problems arising from user's having contacts added who they may not necessarily want to – for example, they may have emailed their employer from their personal Googlemail address, and therefore that person will be added to their Buzz list. This particular issue has now been addressed and auto-follow disabled, but will this be enough to smooth things over? Traditionally, Google are good at making changes based on user feedback, but only time will tell in this case whether Buzz will be a hit or a miss on the social media scene with users. As for the Canadian government's investigation, again, the outcome of this is yet to be unveiled.