Cliched titles apart, this is what I have to say about Buzz from first hand experience. I am writing this post from the perspective of a user and not a technologist.
It all started when @shadez tweeted that Buzz could be accessed via Google Maps for Symbian.
I wasn’t too clear about what I could do with it, especially with the whole app working very slowly.
So while I was waiting to meet a friend I was trying out Buzz on Maps. Here are the preliminary tweets:
First look at Buzz. Great for clusters of UGC. Linked images/media w/ text. Geotagged. On google. Hence powers local search. looks 2 be #win
And when I activate the #buzz layer on maps for mobile, it’s a mobile wikimapia. With a lot more UGC
the way i see it, if buzz remains light, and google executes it well (unlike wave) this will be great. Add goggles to the mix and its #win
So then I got down to do some more experimentation. And found out the following.
Buzz is a public feed. This means that I can locate other people’s updates on the map with location.
This screen shot tells me about where some random person is and what he’s “buzzing” about. Now integration with google, and the fact that this is a public feed means that it will show up in google search pretty soon. So this person is talking about food at a particular place (that an unfortunate event happened here is completely coincidental)
Similarly, this “buzz” below tells me about a tourist destination:
Like it happened with me and @ekalavyab when I was checking my location on the map and he happened to buzz that he was at ESquare. Makes for an interesting LBS app. In some ways, I would think it better than a foursquare.
At a glance, I can discover a lot of information:
By hovering over any of these I can see a lot of information. Added to that, I could drill down to what people in my vicinity (as I can see from the blue GPS dot – not visible here) are saying.
I can also upload information:
As you see here, what I am doing is creating content. Public content that is searchable. This is exactly what Google wants.
Now two scenarios can happen here.
1. Lets say, there is someone in the area looking for a good meal. Does a google search and this “buzz” comes up. Quite like a review. Maybe she decides to go for a meal. Now she can leave a (hopefully, positive) comment on my buzz and adds to the UGC.
2. Some hungry soul is passing by. He sees a the board, but not sure what it is, starts the goggles app on his mobile and he sees my buzz and possibly the previous user’s comment too.
Both these scenarios are set somewhere in the near future. This article on the San Francisco Chronicle is very relevant in the context of “social search”
“People are spending less time navigating the Internet on their own and are now navigating the Internet based on their friends’ recommendations or their friends’ activities,” said Dave Yovanno, chief executive of Gigya Inc., a Palo Alto firm that offers social-media services. “That’s one of the big trends we started picking up on probably four or five months ago.”
This comment is interesting. This is one of the reasons why Buzz could be the future for Google.
Then there’s Foursquare to contend with. From my usage of Foursquare, it’s still a game and people are more focused on checking-in rather than creating any useful content. There are deals and discounts, but they’ll have to scale up faster.
The other advantage Google has is the ability to link other properties it owns. Picasa, Blogger, Youtube, etc. Of course, we have Maps as an integral component. And there is the (in)famous launch of Buzz via GMail. Again, a bad decision on Google’s part. Karthik S on his website has written why Buzz is pointless.
But, here’s my biggest grouse with Google Buzz – it has the audacity to assume that my email contacts are the same ones that I want to socialize with, online.
I agree totally with what he says here. This has been a major mistake. Google did delink the auto follow quite fast as per reports. Search Engine Land also has a good article on Buzz here.
Some other tweets (not mentioning them here) talk about non-twitter users taking to Buzz quite well. Maybe that intial push through GMail did help. I have seen tweets that family members are on twitter, and so are colleagues.
I’ll leave you with one interesting use-case.
Let’s say that there is an emergency, maybe riots in multiple areas of a city. People can buzz with pictures and live reports. Of course they can be pinned to a particular location. Something like Ushahidi. They will also have the functionality to add images and videos, tag them and make them visible to a large audience in a lot of ways. In some ways, upgraded citizen journalists. It also has good potential for search-and-rescue over large areas.
There’s scope for local retailers to communicate to customers and offer them deals. It remains to be seen how they can push information on a real-time basis.
In closing: I think Buzz is the future for Google. Combined with maps and tools like goggles it builds a platform for next-generation search. Ideal places for rolling out such services would be places which have fast mobile internet (3G) and a large proportion of population with smartphones.
Comments welcome.
