The kind of awe and admiration Greg has for Apple, I have for Google. Whereas Apple’s product launches are greeted with unending speculation, leaks, rumor-mongering and fanfare, Google quietly rolls out new features.
Some are great – Google Voice has turned out to be surprisingly useful in my business. Others are not – I still haven’t figured out what Google Wave is good for.
Yesterday Google rolled out a new product, Google Buzz.
Unlike the iPad, Buzz is not a category killer. But it takes an existing category – the Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn world of social electronic interaction – and makes it… better.
I love the idea of social networking. I hate some of its implementations. For instance, Facebook is a terrible service – slow, buggy, non-intuitive.
Twitter is fast and a neat idea, but obviously limited in its implementation.
I rarely use LinkedIn.
But Google Buzz is potentially a useful collaborative tool that I can use across a range of relationships – from close friends, to family, to distant friends, to network contacts, to potential clients.
It integrates into gmail, which allows me to use it in the same way I use email. It will connect with other legacy social network sites, such as twitter. And it will allow me to do social networking with a much richer range of tools – text, graphics, photos, and video.
John Kalinowski says:
Damon – Thanks for the Buzz on this new Google service. I’m also a Google nut, and would like to try their Google Voice service, but apparently it’s by invite only. Any idea how to get an invite? Thanks!
February 10, 2010 — 10:12 am
Jolenta Averill says:
Thanks for the heads-up on Buzz! Couple of comments on your observations: I too have not found a need to use Google Wave but I remember a time when I worked in a highly collaborative corporate environment flush with multi-year projects involving huge teams of people where it would have come in very handy indeed. I started using Google Voice recently and although it has a very impressive array of features, the one thing that I really want to use it for (transcribing voicemails to emails) is an unmitigated disaster. That is no exaggeration. Plus I can’t access Google Voice voicemails on my iPhone. Here’s a Google Voice transcription I received today via text message and email:
“Hi Joe, let that stand. Which joint. I’m just checking back in with you. We talked about. I show in town appointment setting for your office number direct is 807 38042008. My extension is 112 and I do look forward to talking to you. Have a great day.”
I find this especially amusing (disturbing?) given that the message was left by a salesperson who, when I played the message back, could definitely be characterized as having enunciated very clearly and spoken at a pretty reasonable pace. In a word, Google Voice transcriptions SUCK!
Anyway, I’m looking forward to trying Google Buzz. I’m too old for MySpace, can’t stand the spammy nature of Facebook, find LinkedIn too boring, and Twitter somewhat limited (although I admit I’m pretty Twiddicted). Happy buzzing!
February 10, 2010 — 4:20 pm
Benjamin Ficker says:
Damon – I’ve got an invite left. Email me: bficker@thephoenixrealestateguide.com
February 10, 2010 — 6:47 pm
Benjamin Ficker says:
John Kalinowski – I’ve got an invite left. Email me: bficker@thephoenixrealestateguide.com
February 10, 2010 — 6:47 pm
jay says:
@Jolenta Hey jolenta, hope you’ve been well. Try MyCaption.com for very accurate transcriptions. Different plans avail. Lets you create tasks, appts. and SMS too by voice. More accurate that vLingo especially for creating emails.
And YouMail.com is great for transcribing voicemail.
February 11, 2010 — 5:45 am
jay says:
Privacy issues with Buzz:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-10451428-256.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Webware&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+webware+%28Webware.com%29
February 11, 2010 — 5:47 am
Jolenta Averill says:
@jay Thanks for the suggestions, Jay. I’ll definitely check those out!
February 11, 2010 — 7:04 am
Jolenta Averill says:
@jay Yikes, Jay! Thanks for the Buzz review. I’m switching Buzz off until they add a configuration piece to the install. I don’t need the whole world seeing everything I’m doing, let alone my client list.
February 11, 2010 — 7:13 am