Just when I was still trying to figure out Google Wave, Google unleashes Google Buzz to wrap my head around. Buzz is Google’s way of getting a slice of the social media pie.
With Buzz you can do all the social media stuff you do on sites like Facebook and Twitter without leaving Gmail. (By the way, according to Yahoo, they’ve been doing the same thing for a year now on their site and they even call it uh Yahoo! buzz. Clearly someone needs a better publicist!)
I took Buzz for a quick test drive last week. Here are some of the ways I’ve used it so far and some links to folks who have gotten ahead of me.
1.) Make some new friends by jumping into chats with old ones:
My first buzz came from super blogger Robb Sutton who was chatting about well what else- Google Buzz. (Because Robb and I have swapped emails before, we automatically follow each other in Buzz. This feature has since changed amid outcries over privacy violations. Now you have to check whether you are following people or not.)
I jumped in to ask a few questions and soon after made friends with James Stenson. Now we’re following each other.
2.) Share your stuff – photos, videos, Google Reader subscriptions – with everybody:
Google Buzz brags that you can share your photos, videos and Google Reader subscriptions and etc with everybody and vice versa. It’s a pretty efficient place to do this especially if you’re using other Google products like Picasa Photo Albums and Google Reader. The two things I like about this feature is that you can easily find what your followers have posted in the stream. Plus you can email it out to others rather easily.
The bummer factor though is that since this is a new social network, it’ll require building up followers to share things with. At this point, you can integrate Buzz with Twitter and Flickr.
3.) Connect with your Twitter and Facebook people too:
This is actually not something you can do with Google Buzz. But you can do this with your Gmail account: you can integrate Facebook, Twitter and Buzz into your Gmail account and turn your account into what Ari Milner describes as a “social media command center.”
The how-to comes courtesy of Milner too through Mashable.
More buzz on Google Buzz:
