Just when you thought there were already too many social media sites to contend with, Google went ahead and created another. Here is the lowdown on the latest major social networking platform, Google Buzz.

What Is It?

Buzz is Google’s first real attempt to capitalize on the social media trend. Buzz lives atop GMail adding Twitter-like status messaging updates and the ability to post photos and links.

Unlike Twitter and Facebook, videos will play inside of your status updates and photo integration is not only more fluent in design but sites like Picasa and Flicker can be easily integrated.

@replies exist, just as they do on Twitter and Facebook. Using the @reply will make your Buzz appear in a person’s inbox.

Why You Might Be Skeptical

You may remember an enormous amount of hype surrounding another Google product, Wave. Wave may have seemed like a social media platform but wasn’t… quite. Wave is something like an online collaboration tool that, well, is hard to figure out and, in my opinion, is not very useful.

Buzz, in comparison, is simple. You write a status update like you would in Facebook or Twitter and send it out to people following you.

Why is it Powerful?

The biggest advantage to Facebook and Twitter are their user base. Each is driven by hundreds of millions of users, making it more enticing for newbies to join in. GMail has the same mass audience. If you use GMail, turning on Buzz is as simple as a click. If you login to GMail on the Web, you are already on and used to the platform.

Controversy

Buzz launched with an enormous problem. Google tested it inside the company where their e-mail addresses were already available to one another. When they turned it on, Google automatically listed, publically, the e-mail addresses of the people Buzz users were talking to. Did I mention this was PUBLIC? Imagine jealous lovers, nosy bosses, stalkers, and other fascinating folks finding the full e-mail addresses of the people their targets regularly talk to!

This was a major blunder because the default setting was to “opt everyone” into this “feature” rather than make it “optional” information to share. To their credit, Google heard the outrage and changed this option fast. Still, that blunder made a lot of potential users anxious and potentially reluctant to adopt.

See Molly Wood’s excellent summary on CNET.

The Bottom Line

As of right now, I find little value to Buzz and have no desire to build up a following on yet another social networking platform. I am a Twitterholic, but have also been finding more use for Facebook even though it’s a privacy nightmare. I hated “Wave” and have never gone back. I have no use for other Google products like “Voice” but I am a devoted fan of GMail and use Google search almost exclusively.

Integration of services can be swell, but I think there is too much integration when it comes to your privacy and personal life.

As a platform for marketers and organizations, I have yet to see the potential value of Buzz. Sure a company can grab a buzz account, hook up a Twitter feed and leave it, but just as integration causes concerns about privacy, too much integration on social media can lead to very stale and uninteresting accounts. I also don’t see the value of a companyx@gmail.com hub at the moment, but maybe that will change with more features and customization.

But if anyone has the potential to challenge the current dominance of Facebook and Twitter, Google does. The company’s often-overhyped launches have been lackluster and follow-through to create features is one reason to doubt what impact Buzz will have.

So in short, if you want to add yet another social media account to your life or are a lover of GMail who wants to integration across platforms, go for Buzz. If you are already doing too much and don’t want to waste time on something people may simply stop caring about in a year, wait and see.

Jeff Commaroto
Executive Assistant