I've been using Google's buzz for just a few hours, but here's what
I've come up with. As is pretty clear, it's Facebook. At least the bits of Facebook that
I use. You post text, from the length of status updates to long posts
if you want. You post videos. You post pictures. These
pictures/videos/text entries can be seen by anyone in your circle of
friends. The integration with Google Profiles extends the metaphor.
This is the part I think they have got spot on. Everything works, it
integrates with everything most googlers use online (with the
exception of Facebook, their obvious competitor). On the other hand, Facebook's Wall and Email are two fundamentally
different systems of messaging. What they've done here is stuck a
very public space in the middle of something that I'm accustomed to
treating very privately. I feel like somewhat of a luddite to say it,
but this really bothers me. It feels like just a little too much too
quickly. It clearly makes sense to consolidate online communications the way
Google has. If you want to say something public, there's an avenue
for that. If you want to say something immediate, there's an avenue
for that (GChat, especially with AIM integration). Obviously you
still have email. These are all right there next to each other and
I'm sure it's great for productivity and simplicity. It's entirely possible that my misgivings stem from my recent wariness
of Google: In the last year or so they've released a browser, a
programming language, a DNS service, and a phone service. They now
own geolocation satellites and imaging equipment as well as all the
maps in Google Maps (as opposed to those maps being owned by a third
party). I use the most google apps of anyone I know. I use Google Reader,
Google Docs, and Google Chrome; I have an Android phone and use Google
Maps constantly both from the phone and the desktop. While I haven't
actually started using Google Go yet I've seriously looked at it. I
use Gmail, Google Listen (podcast aggregator for Droid), Blogger,
Youtube, and GChat. And I love it. I use these products because they
are simply the best. Google services are open to the fullest extent
possible and they're terrific. But on the other hand, I've given all
of these bits of my privacy and my freedom to the one of the biggest
corporations in the world. If someone appeared next to me and told me
that in the future, Google controls 80% of the world's capital and
legally owns everyone's personal information, I would believe him. Still, I'm sure that no one at Google reads my email. That's clearly
private and a line would be crossed in doing so. With Google Buzz
it's almost like Google is allowed to see into your friends'
collective inboxes. I'm sure this is just a result of its proximity
to my real inbox and I'll get used to it. That cute little
multicolored chat icon has only been sitting there for a few hours and
I think the paranoia is already starting to wear off. I just wanted a
public record of my thoughts that I can look back on in my old age and
think, "If only I had acted on my suspicions, Sergey Brin's clones
might not be supreme hegemon for eternity!" (Triumvirates never work
out in the long run, you know. :)
I've come up with. As is pretty clear, it's Facebook. At least the bits of Facebook that
I use. You post text, from the length of status updates to long posts
if you want. You post videos. You post pictures. These
pictures/videos/text entries can be seen by anyone in your circle of
friends. The integration with Google Profiles extends the metaphor.
This is the part I think they have got spot on. Everything works, it
integrates with everything most googlers use online (with the
exception of Facebook, their obvious competitor). On the other hand, Facebook's Wall and Email are two fundamentally
different systems of messaging. What they've done here is stuck a
very public space in the middle of something that I'm accustomed to
treating very privately. I feel like somewhat of a luddite to say it,
but this really bothers me. It feels like just a little too much too
quickly. It clearly makes sense to consolidate online communications the way
Google has. If you want to say something public, there's an avenue
for that. If you want to say something immediate, there's an avenue
for that (GChat, especially with AIM integration). Obviously you
still have email. These are all right there next to each other and
I'm sure it's great for productivity and simplicity. It's entirely possible that my misgivings stem from my recent wariness
of Google: In the last year or so they've released a browser, a
programming language, a DNS service, and a phone service. They now
own geolocation satellites and imaging equipment as well as all the
maps in Google Maps (as opposed to those maps being owned by a third
party). I use the most google apps of anyone I know. I use Google Reader,
Google Docs, and Google Chrome; I have an Android phone and use Google
Maps constantly both from the phone and the desktop. While I haven't
actually started using Google Go yet I've seriously looked at it. I
use Gmail, Google Listen (podcast aggregator for Droid), Blogger,
Youtube, and GChat. And I love it. I use these products because they
are simply the best. Google services are open to the fullest extent
possible and they're terrific. But on the other hand, I've given all
of these bits of my privacy and my freedom to the one of the biggest
corporations in the world. If someone appeared next to me and told me
that in the future, Google controls 80% of the world's capital and
legally owns everyone's personal information, I would believe him. Still, I'm sure that no one at Google reads my email. That's clearly
private and a line would be crossed in doing so. With Google Buzz
it's almost like Google is allowed to see into your friends'
collective inboxes. I'm sure this is just a result of its proximity
to my real inbox and I'll get used to it. That cute little
multicolored chat icon has only been sitting there for a few hours and
I think the paranoia is already starting to wear off. I just wanted a
public record of my thoughts that I can look back on in my old age and
think, "If only I had acted on my suspicions, Sergey Brin's clones
might not be supreme hegemon for eternity!" (Triumvirates never work
out in the long run, you know. :)
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