Be Excellent To Each Other

So, Google announce 'Google Buzz', and it's being rolled out right now. From first impressions it's Twitter (short status updates, geotagging), with added Facebook (comment-style replies, 'like' buttons). Late to the game, but it's a nice interface.



Anyone else had a play yet?

it hasn't appeared on my gmail yet.

But from what I've seen... meh.

Oops, already ranted in bits and bobs.

I like. Better than Wave, but the main feature which appeals beyond Twitter is gmail integration, which right now is BIG FAT LIE.

You might at well say it's not as good at the Nexus One.

It appears to be in my Gmail.

Perhaps I'm more awesome.

Or perhaps I haven't tried to use it yet.

What I mean is that Wave arrive with huge fanfare, invite only and everything that goes with it, and for me, having got excited about it, realised I had no application for it.

This pops up as a news story, is instantly useable, and (if it does come with a gmail interface, but I can't see it) nicely integrates much of my day to day communication faffing in one web page, also with built in 'following' already for people I know.

Just realised, we're on IE6 here, and as Wave won't play on that, this may explain my Buzzlessness. I used the Buzz site last night to play (load time on iphone - 3 seconds, compared to 2 minutes to open Waveboard App)

I don't like that it uses my real name, automatically publishes to all my real life Gmail contacts and the location thing is very scary indeed. It gives my location as my full address, only just stopping short by using "Numbers 1-16" instead of my actual house number. I don't know who can see that, but even if it's only my contacts (i.e. everyone I've sent Gmails to) it's fucking worrying.

I know using "The Rev Owen" or "That Rev Chap" isn't very secure at all, but it at least provides a nice little illusion of privacy. And people I know in real life aren't necessarily the people I want to send status updates to, or whatever Buzz is actually for.

I think I shall be ignoring Buzz. I just don't really get it, like I don't get Facebook.

Agreed - there's nothing stopping you setting up a less obvious gmail account to use it, mind.

Apart from the God-awful faff, of course. Surely you can change the settings?

What is the point of that? Sounds like they have missed a core issue there. I don't want everyone on my email list to get my tweets. I tell half of them to fuck off most of the time.

Mine still hasn't been activated

Is there any way we can add-up the BEEX-ers once it's all running?

Oh. Really?

I use my Gmail primarily for job applications and the like. Not good.

Yeah, a lot of companies don't seem to have realised that we don't broadcast everything to everyone we know.

Apparently I'm already "following" one of my mates on Google Buzz, even though I haven't had any sort of access to it yet. This isn't fucking good, surely?

Had a quick look at Buzz. If you set up groups in your contacts you do have control over who see's your post. You just have to make a post private and select the groups you want to post to.

Just a shame no one I know will use it.

As @jearle posted on Twitter:

Google Wave: Too soon.
Google Buzz: Too late.

I want to opt out of this tosh.

Also: Buzz

I think they looked at Facebook and assumed the opposite, actually.

Turned mine off, no great desire to use it. GMail for emails, sinister facebook for stalking. Seems like a decent enough split.

Thanks to Buzz, and the profile pictures of users which show with your 'nearby' posts, I now know the name of the hot girl who gets the DLR from Lewisham around the same time as me every day. Result.

*sharpens knives*

I'll just stab everyone in numbers 1-16 on your street then, to be sure I get you. I might carry on after I stab someone with an epic beard and cool hat.

Privacy considerations can fuck off in that case. This is what technology should be doing for us - making it easier for guys to score with hot girls.

Hello, MrsK!

I can thank Friends Reunited for that.

Drinking Lactating Rectum.

There used to be a series of those doing the rounds on alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica back in the day.

Yeah, they took me ages to upload on a 56k line.

This has just popped up on mine. Any ideas why I'm automatically following RemovedByRequest?

Because you've ever sent him an email from your gmail, I think - or vice-versa.

Buzz is shit, isn't it?

Yep. Slow as fuck and pretty much just rubbish.

Considering you can already syndicate all of your link/message sharing things (google reader, twitter, picasa etc) via facebook and also considering EVERYBODY already uses facebook to share their brain vomits, Buzz is utterly pointless.

Given that all of the people I am following have used Google Buzz just twice in total over the last fortnight, I've got to pronounce this thing dead to me.