Google Buzz

[JoyfulSparrow]

Erik mentioned that they'd be talking about Google Buzz this week on Social Media Serenity.  I'll be interrested to hear about it. I haven't paid too much attention to the advance info because of what I THINK it is (something that announces my location to others.)

As a woman I am a little mystefied over foursquare and similar services that I see community members using. They look like fun but as a woman I'm not comfortable announcing my whereabouts all over town for some crazy off the internet to find me.   Is there more to it, am I missing the point? I have not seen any women using it.

2nd I did see the Buzz that Cliff started and was going to respond, there, but it was going to use my real name - the one I have associated with my G-mail. I have purposefully kept my last name OFF of public Social Media platforms. When I started putting family photos on my blog my husband was concerned about photos of our son appearing on the internet so I promised not to use our last name.

[Cliff Ravenscraft]

April,

Great points of discussion for the show... I know very little about Google Buzz myself.  I'll put this in the show notes and see what Erik knows about it.

[Erik Fisher]

We will definitely be talking about it tomorrow.

[the Ramen Noodle]

As a woman I am a little mystefied over foursquare and similar services that I see community members using. They look like fun but as a woman I'm not comfortable announcing my whereabouts all over town for some crazy off the internet to find me.   Is there more to it, am I missing the point? I have not seen any women using it.

I also have issues with telling people exactly where I am. I don't share my workplace, and even when I mention a location, I try to be super-vague.

2nd I did see the Buzz that Cliff started and was going to respond, there, but it was going to use my real name - the one I have associated with my G-mail. I have purposefully kept my last name OFF of public Social Media platforms.

The Gmail thing is perhaps the biggest reason I won't use Buzz or do much with Wave except with people I trust—they're both based on or actually use my personal email address! I'm not giving that away to just anyone who wants to follow me.

I'm seeing a lot of people essentially saying, "Looks cool, works well, but it's overloading my inbox, so I turned it off." I don't want the tweets of everyone I'm following to appear as conversations in my Gmail inbox! I think that an update service like Twitter really needs it's own site or it's own client to be of much yes.

[davedufour]

I'm not sure Buzz actually exposes your e-mail address to anyone, though. 

Great show on Buzz this week, guys. 

I would like to make a different case FOR buzz.  Years ago, I was what they called a sysop on the old CompuServe system. CompuServe was a relatively closed system and I was involved on the PR Forum at the time.  We REQUIRED real names.  Most CompuServe users used real names. Because we actually know who each other was, it kept the civility there.  Today, well, anonymity leads to the horrible language and verbal viciousness that shows up in places like ZDnet and YouTube comments.  I recognize security issues, but when the nicknames started showing up on CompuServe, that's when the civility left. 

[Cliff Ravenscraft]

I hear that This Week In Google episode 29 is a MUST LISTEN about Google Buzz.  It's not in the feed yet, but I can't wait to hear about it.

How did I learn about this?  GOOGLE BUZZ!

See here: http://gspn.tv/buzz

I love that you can "read" the buzz without having to participate! 

[WayneHenderson]

The mobile Google Buzz site on my iPhone hasn't refreshed for over a week now.  In addition, I'm not able to post any new buzzes.  My posts just sit there in progress.

Ideas?  Suggestions?

Also, has anyone tried the new Buzzie iPhone app?  It looks interesting, but I don't think I want to give out my Google password to anyone......period.

[Cliff Ravenscraft]

I've not tried it yet...    Good point about the Google Password.. I never thought about that!

I wonder if they will create an open auth system.