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The newest kid on the social media block is Google buzz, this is different from others as it is an attempt to integrate Gmail with social media. Doing so gives Google access to its already existing user base of Gmail. Initial results showed that Buzz had infact managed to create a lot of buzz around, but whether it can replace twitter as official micro blogging platform would be interesting to watch.
Another question is what kind of users is Google trying to capture with buzz? Twitter and Gmail sure have different profiles of users. Nevertheless Google has once again brought something to buzz about, last buzz it created was Google Wave.
Major features in Google Buzz are:
- Auto-following
- Rich, fast sharing experience
- Public and private sharing
- Inbox integration
- and last it has tried to take best from every other available tool
It uses the same keyboard shortcuts as Gmail, Hitting "R" allows you to comment / reply to a buzz post. There are public and private settings for different posts, you can post updates to specific contact groups, this is much like Facebook. Comments are updated in real time, @replies are supported just like Twitter. Over all a good platform inspired by a number of other tools.
More on Google and Social Media
By just login into gmail, we can access both google buzz and gmail under a single roof, rather than getting in to twitter through its own account for tweeting. Moreover twitter can be integrated with buzz such that you can view your tweets in gbuzz within a short delay. Now lets see whether the bird be buzzed away even in its recently modified skins.