Why is Google Buzz forced, minimally relevant and largely pointless.

Posted on February 10, 2010, by Karthik S, under opinion.



I’m usually a Google fanboy – I like…love most of what they’ve launched. I can’t even imagine any other mail besides Gmail. Google Wave was an exception. Despite some other fanboy raves, I found it pointless.

Google Buzz is next on line – though I’m willing to wait and give it a serious shot. How can I not – it’s right below the ‘Inbox’, as against Wave, which created a parallel economy between the haves and have-nots.

Oh yes, Google Buzz is new, shiny, amazingly well integrated, loads smoothly and does the dishes in record time.

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.

Consider this: how would you feel if you’re forced to socialize with neighbors in your apartment? I know – we’re supposed to be civil to them considering we’re in the same damn building – but is being civil same as being social? No!

I choose to write to some people on email for a reason – and one of the most important reason is to have a one-to-one communication. I may or may not want to expose my connection with someone to the world/ others.

I anyway have a huge problem with gmail adding every single mail ID that I write to in the address book – Yahoo and Hotmail had the courtesy to ask if I’d like to add a particular email ID in my address book…Gmail just assumes, on its own.

So, who gets to Buzz with me? The people I mail to? How does that even make sense? On Facebook, I seek connections with people over something…an interest; a past connection; a common connection; an admiration…! On Twitter, I connect based on a few criteria – interest in profile; number of tweets; their connections; cute DP (well….); intelligence; common interests…! On Google Buzz?

We’ve come such a long way in using other systems like Facebook and Twitter for specific purposes that I don’t email my college batch mates or past colleagues. I see what they are up to generally on Facebook or what they are up to right now on Twitter. On Google Buzz, the connections are forced, minimally relevant and largely pointless.

Yes, Google’s initial set of recommendations are based on the amount of of emails/ chats we’ve exchanged between us, but many such interactions are merely obligatory and not necessarily social. How would Google know the difference? If it doesn’t, why should it assume that ‘more’ automatically means a connection?

For instance, I might be having a raging mail conversation with the customer service department of a brand that I’m not happy with – I may mail them umpteen times and also be having chats with them on gchat. Will Buzz assume that this means I’m willing to share photos and videos with them? If Buzz was a clean slate with just the basic criteria of having a gmail ID, it could have been so much more exciting. Like Twitter, but!!

So…why would Google launch a product based on Gmail’s email address book? Isn’t it a bit like collecting all the numbers you’ve ever called from your mobile phone (whether they’re in your phone contacts list or you entered numbers manually) and announcing to you that since you called them, you now have a connection. Hmmm…does it really work that way?

No, I’m not biased or closed to this discussion on Google Buzz – as I started this post, I love most of Google’s products. So, if you have a good logic to counter this rant’y post, I’m definitely willing to reconsider my abrasive stand.

As with many things in life, there is a perfectly appropriate Seinfeld episode to explain my state about Google Buzz right now – ‘The Boyfriend‘…18th episode of Season 3. Besides hilarious moments like a spoof of JFK assassination and my 2nd most favorite moment in any Seinfeld episode (the latex salesman ending – next only to George ‘Marine Biologist’ pulling out a golf ball), Seinfeld and Keith Hernandez’s relationship is exactly how I feel right now with many people on my Gmail contacts list.

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  • http://www.julieduffy.com/technology/google-buzz-huh/ Google Buzz, Huh? — Word Wonders

    [...] This Self-Professed Google Fanboy compares Google’s auto-selecting-email-contacts-for-Buzz to being forced to socialise with his neighbours…in his apartment. Which kind of works… [...]

  • Karthik Sridhar (@AntarYaami)

    Right On.

    Still, for the sake of an argument, the following..

    I think Google Wave would have been successful, they had completely replaced Gmail with it. Something Color TV did to B/W TV & Radio.

    Here is my (conspiracy) theory: Had Google not been “too big to fail” and carried on in its entrepreneurial spirit, they would have launched Wave replacing Gmail. Its what they wanted and envisioned.

    It would have eliminated the need for email and chat and continual development of both the products. But the wise ones would have weighed their options and found that the move today will be perceived as drastic. It had negatives not just for the brand but also the investors. They far outweighed the positives.

    Wave was introduced, however, because it still was a breakthrough technology, whichever way you saw it. And Google is known to come up with such innovations. But the way it was released, limited invites, no user manual (!) made sure it only ended up being a Cherry Coke to Coke.

    Buzz is a typical Salesman’s reaction to the competition’s discount offer. While Wave was supposed to engulf the top user markets, Twitter swayed a lot of attention towards itself, everywhere (Iran, for instance). Facing that, Google sought the most convenient part of a new product development. Gmail. Extending their second most successful product into the Social Media would, typically give them
    a ready user base. Their thought must have been something close to: “Hey, everyone uses Gmail dont they? And what could they be writing through their personal email ids anyway? Forget that I know what they need. They should ‘network’ together even more” Shazzaaammm – BUZZ. Just like that, you have a twitter clone in your mailbox, for which you dont even need to download an API client, or be restricted to 140 characters. You can even ‘like’ the buzz, while adding photos. Buzz was Twitter meets Facebook meets Google interface. And since you’ve been such a good boy, we’ll give it to you on Gmail.

    Twitter does let me chose the face I want to see on my timeline. That is because, like Facebook, it wasn’t relying on my past experience with another Twitter product. It was a fresh start.

    Buzz, was an afterthought. And their-in lies the difference.

    cheers

  • Karthik Sridhar (@AntarYaami)

    Wait, i started out wanting to make an argument..but digressed. Oh well.

  • http://www.lbhat.com Lakshmipathy Bhat

    Good post. Since Gmail adds email ID’s of everyone I mail to (including the subscription department of Time magazine) I too wondered why I would share my buzz with them or vice versa. Still early days, let’s see how this evolves.

  • Anita Lobo

    I had the same eewww feeling about buzzing ppl on my gmail contact list.
    Bw goog and fb, privacy is flowing into a mucky open drain.
    Not comforting at all.
    Oh and tell me again, how does buzz help me reduce time suck or my workload?
    Cheers
    A

  • Karthik S

    Karthik: I like the ‘after thought’ angle – makes perfect sense. It seems to be like a mash of IM and mail and it’s no wonder it’s nowhere.

    Anita: No, it does not reduce time suck – if anything, it’d add more people to your social network online and add significantly more noise.

  • Karthik S

    lbhat: I’m still willing to try it out and make something out of it – I like the way Google uncomplicates online things much like Apple does with the hw/sw combo (let’s not discuss the pricing strategy, but). Right now Buzz looks like it is meant for those who did not want to join Twitter or were afraid to join Twitter. How much and why I’d want to interact with that bunch – I’m not clear yet, but I’m willing to wait and watch.

  • Jesu

    Hey, you are allowed to edit the lists of your followees and followers right? So can’t you just go there and knock off people who you don’t like :-) ? I’m guessing the real reason why Google took this automatic route was to ensure dialogues start immediately. And, that really has worked for them. If not for the automatic lists, I honestly would not have gone and invited people to follow me on Buzz. Am really happy with FB and Twitter.. Why would I bother with another one unless it is dramatically better, which Buzz is not yet..

  • Karthik S

    Jesu: Absolutely – one can add/ delete all we want. But the basic premise is that this is my email contacts list – not necessarily my online social world. I should be choosing my online worlds, not Google, that too, by default.

  • http://www.mythologic.tumblr.com Tastemaster

    I agree wholeheartedly. I just put out a sample post yesterday. And I’ve got replies from people I rarely talk to regularly. Apparently, they ‘follow’ me & can see me. I can see all their replies in the same timeline, and I’m not sure if my replies can be seen by all. Or if other people’s replies can be seen by all my friends. For now, I’m not going to use it.

  • Yaju

    Being an Oracle guy, the following SQL query came to my mind upon seeing Buzz.

    select substr(‘Dont be evil’,6) from Google where app_name in (‘Buzz’, ‘Wave’, ‘Android’, ‘Chrome’);

  • Jim

    I agree.

    Click on the little beaker (actually an Ehrlenmayer Flask) at the top right of the GMail page. That brings up “labs” — I guess. Go all the way to the bottom. In very small print is a link “Shut Off Buzz”.

    Shut off Buzz.

    There. Have a Pepsi. On me.

  • http://www.planet-word.com Valerie Alexander

    Thanks for the tip, Jim.

    Buzz strikes me as presumptuous. I’ve been trying to get away from having multiple email addresses (family, business, other business, friends, other friends) but Buzz’s current M.O. makes me hesitate to combine everyone. There’s something to be said for compartmentalization.

  • http://vivtech.blogspot.com Vivek

    Nice post. You hit the nail on the head.I too agree with you. Its highly intrusive into my private life. I find it irritating and will disable it soon.

  • http://irvinejournal.com Joe R

    Sounds like the same old Baby Boomer fear of blurring the distinction between personal and professional loves. Millenials are way beyond this and the old folks (myself included) wither get with it or get marginalized.

    Face it fanboy, the world is a changin’

  • Rafeek

    Hey guys..

    Everything gets perfect in time.. lets give google the time for perfection..Facebook and twitter were too a strange thing for the crowd in the begining..

  • Karthik S

    Joe R/ Rafeek: As I mentioned in my post, I’m willing to give it a try and I’ve not switched it off yet. But to me, it seems like Google is trying to attract people who haven’t warmed up to other networks yet – they seem to be the ones who are most interested in the service.

  • http://www.prolificdyslexic.com/blog/?p=619 The buzz about Buzz

    [...] 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 [...]

  • Jesu
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