The lowdown on Google Buzz

Google continues to spread its wings, most recently launching a social networking service to compete with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Here's the lowdown.

WHAT IT IS

Google Buzz is for users of Gmail - Google's email program. It allows people to follow others they email and chat with regularly by receiving their Buzz comments and updates of their internet activity through their Gmail accounts. For example, users can post links to Google services such as YouTube, photo sharing site Flickr and websites and can import posts from micro-blogging service Twitter.

Google Buzz users can choose to make their updates private, available to certain people or public - in which case Google's search engine can find and display their posts.

Buzz users can see lists of your followers and people who you are following, but again, you can choose to make these lists private. You can also block people from following you.

Google is planning to launch a version of Buzz for mobile phones. This version will make use of the GPS available on many smartphones, identifying where the mobile user is and showing them Buzz posts from other users nearby.  

The service will also be integrated into Google's Place Pages - more than 50 million locations have their own Google websites, which feature a map, photos from Google's Street View service, reviews and information about the location. Buzz posts that are made in these locations will be added to their Place Page.  

So why has Google launched Buzz? Google says it is trying to deliver a social networking service that will filter out meaningful information from the endless stream of updates flowing from other services.

Commentators say Buzz is Google's attempt to claw back internet audiences from Twitter and Facebook, which has more than 400 million users around the world. Google's own social network, Orkut, has largely failed to attract a following.  

PRIVACY

Shortly after launching Google Buzz earlier this month, Google ran into hot water over the service's privacy settings.

Gmail users were automatically signed up to the service, with Google using private email and chat contacts to create a list of followers. It also  publicly displayed Gmail users' shared items from Picasa photo albums and Google Reader - a service that lets Gmail users receive feeds from their favourite news sites and blogs.  

Google quickly back-pedalled, removing the automatic sign-ups and instead suggesting Gmail users follow each other through Buzz. The automatic links to shared items from Picasa and Google Reader have also been removed, and Gmail users can now hide Buzz or disable it completely.

But privacy concerns remain. The Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) has filed a complaint with the United States' Federal Trade Commission, claiming Google is violating privacy by automatically signing Gmail users up to Buzz, and using their private address books to create social networking lists.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported a class-action privacy lawsuit has been filed against the service, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is also investigating it.

Google has rejected EPIC's claims but says it will continue to improve the service.

WHAT USERS THINK

One of the service's biggest drawbacks is that users cannot import updates from Facebook - meaning it falls short of being a one-stop social networking shop.

The setup of Buzz is similar to that of Twitter and Facebook status updates - you can comment on other posts and "like" them and send emails to people who have posted.  

Reviewers say at the moment Buzz is a lesser version of Twitter - but it has great potential in terms of its ability to tie in with other Google services, such as Google Maps, and to make use of Google's search technology by pointing users to useful information from other Buzz-ers.  

- © Fairfax NZ News