

Google: We May Offer Buzz Independently From Gmail - white_eskimo
http://searchengineland.com/google-we-may-remove-buzz-from-gmail-36145

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bonaldi
Headline here is completely wrong: the article stresses they'll keep it in
GMail, they're just going to offer it to non-gmail accounts. This'll be GApps
and is unsurprising, to me.

~~~
dkarl
I can't see the original article any more, but the relevant piece is quoted in
this post, whose interpretation agrees with the headline:

[http://mashablemirror.blogspot.com/2010/02/google-buzz-is-
st...](http://mashablemirror.blogspot.com/2010/02/google-buzz-is-staying-in-
gmail.html)

However, they contacted Google to confirm and were told: "No, we’re not
planning to remove Buzz from Gmail. Among some of the features we’re
considering is building a standalone Buzz experience in addition to the one in
Gmail, but I can’t confirm anything right now."

The lack of consistency suggests that Google is having a hard time deciding
how to handle this but knew they had to address it quickly. I hope they back
down and fix the privacy issues, but I'm not sure they would think Buzz will
be worth their bother unless they can convince people to give up the
expectation of privacy. Meanwhile, I've voted with my mouse by following these
instructions:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1121137>

~~~
bonaldi
Ah, looks like the headline's been changed: it read "Google may remove Buzz
from GMail" when I saw it.

~~~
dkarl
The original headline reflected a common interpretation of what was said, but
either Google didn't intend that interpretation or they changed their minds.

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kqr2
All of this could have been avoided if they simply had a button that asked
users if they wanted google to automagically add social contacts from gmail
and give users a preview of what that would look like.

They should have also clearly indicated in the preview what was private and
what was public.

BTW, what happened to their beta testing / invite only methodology? Also
doesn't google beta test things internally first? If so, I'm sure they would
have gotten very similar feedback from their 10,000+ employees.

~~~
jsz0
It's a land grab. They had to gain users and build social/advertising groups
quickly. I think there's something going on behind the scenes with Twitter
and/or Facebook that terrifies Google right now. Otherwise they wouldn't have
made such a bone headed move. They know better. The deployment strategy was a
carefully calculated risk in my opinion.

~~~
tocomment
That's very interesting. What could Facebook possibly do to terrify Google?
Maybe I'm not being creative, but I can't think of anything offhand. I'd love
to hear some conjectures.

~~~
jubbam
Maybe Facebook moving into the e-mail area scares Google?

[http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/05/facebooks-project-titan-
a-f...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/05/facebooks-project-titan-a-full-
featured-webmail-product/)

This would put Facebook in the middle of even more conversations/social
interactions.

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dkarl
Once it's gone from gmail, nobody will use it and nobody will care. Massive
fail for Google, strike two in the social networking department.

~~~
jdrock
Yep. The only reason it caught on was because it was made available through a
tool everyone uses already.. kind of like how Internet Explorer is used..

~~~
thibaut_barrere
And with landing pages that have obscene conversion rates (which is why people
feel raped IMO).

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jsz0
I think Google should remove Buzz from GMail by default. Technically it
probably makes no difference. Same privacy risks either way. The bigger issue
is perception. I think most people approach GMail as a private space. They are
very aware of the private data they keep in GMail. They've been using GMail
for users under this assumption of privacy. All the sudden this public
information exchange is one click away. If every bit of my information on
Facebook was leaked I wouldn't be too upset because I've always approached it
as a public space. I have an expectation that nothing on FaceBook is really
private. I have an expectation everything in GMail is.

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piramida
This was a most troubled release from google, almost everything was done
wrong, to alienate common non-techy users and privacy advocates. Just check
out the Buzz help forum
([http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/gmail/label?lid=3a6323...](http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/gmail/label?lid=3a63236689cf8dbd&hl=en)),
it's pure hatred.

However I would still love if they have the guts to make it stay. Out of all
attempts at social media (i.e. facebook, ff and twitter) this one looks like
the only acceptable solution which does not seem to suck (no ads, no flashy
children toys, no annoying "updates" from hardly known people, and no
character limit which dumbs down posts from even the brightest authors). If it
is removed from gmail, it will sadly die. If it stays, public will learn to
live with it.

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tumult
Please update this headline, it's inaccurate

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hans
Google's social skills are like Frankenstein ...

