As we predicted and as you have probably already seen, Google has launched a new social service called Google Buzz.
There is quite a lot of confusion about what it actually is and what it means. Here, we try to clear a few things up:
What is Google Buzz?
Google Buzz is a real-time social network like Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter. It can be used to share content including videos, links, photos and status updates.
How can I access it?
At the moment you can only access Google Buzz through a Gmail account or via mobile page. We would expect this to change in the future and that you will then be able to access Buzz elsewhere in the Google network.
What features does it have?
- Integration – you can bring in content from other sources including Google Reader for example
- Retweet – you can ‘recommend’ updates you think might be of interest to anyone in your network
- Privacy – you can share updates with individuals or your network or the whole world
- Followers – Google will use your email address book in Gmail to suggest people you might like to add to your network
- Location – the mobile version allows you to get updates specifically from people that are nearby, whether in your network or not
Is it competitive to other social networks?
Possibly, although the number of users on Gmail (c.150m) is much less than Facebook (c.400m), so you would expect Facebook to maintain its advantage for some time. The interesting thing is that Google Buzz seems set to try and integrate social content from across the web, something that Facebook is also keen to do for its users. This puts the two firmly against each other. Twitter has openly embraced other clients like Facebook and Tweetdeck that pull in tweets, so we don’t think there is much of a clash here.
What does it mean for small businesses?
At the moment, probably not much as the user base is small and users are still working out how best to use it. But because this comes from Google – the web’s biggest and most powerful company – it is certainly worth keeping an eye on developments. We certainly will be and will keep you in the loop!
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