Social networking and community engagement technology made easy

Google has just announced it’s newest addition to the Google family: Google Buzz.  This is Google’s serious attempt to go social in a way it has not been previously done. The main philosophies behind Google buzz are 1) Sharing experiences and 2) Real time, which is not at all unlike Twitter.

There are 5 key features according to Mashable:

1. Auto-following
2. Rich, fast sharing experiences
3. Public and private sharing
4. Inbox integration
5. Just the good stuff

The app also integrates with Picasa, Flickr, Google Reader and Twitter, which is said to make sharing easier.

According to the Offical Google Blog:

Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don’t have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you’re sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.

But that’s not all. As expected, Google takes the Buzz mobile.

On your phone, Google Buzz is much more than just a small screen version of the desktop experience. Mobile devices add an important component to sharing: location. Posts tagged with geographical information have an extra dimension of context — the answer to the question “where were you when you shared this?” can communicate so much. And when viewed in aggregate, the posts about a particular location can paint an extremely rich picture of that place. Check out the Mobile Blog for more info about all of the ways to use Buzz on your phone, from a new mobile web app to a Buzz layer in Google Maps for mobile.

Have you tried Google Buzz yet? What are your experiences with it so far?

posted by Piers Hogarth-Scott in the category Social Media
Tags: flickr, google buzz, mashable, picassa, twitter