The Capitol Fax Blog » Will Buzz save us from drowning or just add more water into the tank?

Will Buzz save us from drowning or just add more water into the tank?

Tuesday, Feb 9, 2010

* When Google launches a new product, I tend to pay attention. And since most of us here are pretty wired-in, I thought I’d do a bit about today’s launch of Google Buzz.

Go check out a reliable live-blogging of the big announcement by clicking here…

One of Google’s great [insights] was pagerank, which gave websites relevancy. Now, we need to find relevancy in social expressions on Twitter and other social networks. “It’s easy to start drowning in this.” How do we find relevancy in the real world? What signals do we use?

And another one…

10:36 am: There’s a lot of noise out there but how can Google algorithmically help determine what’s important and relevant? Location is important to drive relevance. Where are you? At work? On road? In a meeting? Conversations and relevance are unlocked by locations. In mobile, there is GPS data today and there are many tools to help us understand location. Three new product experiences being announced today. You can go directly to Google’s main page. On Android and iPhone, you can also go to buzz.google.com. New Google Maps app for Symbian, Windows Mobile, Android and others (not iPhone) but more coming soon.

10:44 am: Looking at the Buzz app for iPhone and Android (Vic is using a Nexus One on stage) There’s a Following button and a Nearby button. You might not just want to see the most interesting buzzes based on who you’re following. Let’s say you’re walking down the street and want to see all of the buzz that’s close to you - people who are maybe at the same concert or are in your neighborhood. Of course, all of the posts are geo-tagged. And now, in maps, you can see an icon to see that people there are “buzzing” and you can read them.

A video from Google…

News and tweets.

Thoughts?

- posted by Rich Miller

29 Comments

- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 1:29 pm:
Good god - we’re on the verge of living and dying by rumors and memes.

This is the wrong direction…

- siriusly - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 1:31 pm:
Seems cool and useful, but also a little creepy.

I think Google makes great stuff. I use a phone that operates on Android now, its integration with Google calendar, docs and gmail is flawless.

But like I said, should people be able to use Buzz and google maps to find a person in their contact list? Seems like a lot of privacy issues to look at here.

- IL Yeezy - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 1:40 pm:
==But like I said, should people be able to use Buzz and google maps to find a person in their contact list? Seems like a lot of privacy issues to look at here.==

Considering that people are already voluntarily giving up this information via FourSquare and Gowalla, I think Google’s just trying to capture some of that marketshare on location-based apps and “check-ins.”

The funny thing is that FourSquare’s predecessor, Dodgeball, was bought by Google a few years back, but Google never did anything with it and recently killed the service.

I think you’ll see some really amazing stuff happen once people start pairing this with Google Goggles, which is simply amazing.

- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 1:42 pm:
===once people start pairing this with Google Goggles, which is simply amazing. ===

Didn’t even know about that. Wow. My iPhone seems so… old.

- Jake Parrillo - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 1:49 pm:
Privacy is a top concern - and that’s why there are private/public controls that are ’stickey’. You don’t have to mark every item ‘private’, simply toggle to private and fire away.

- Jake Parrillo - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 1:50 pm:
oh…and wait until you see it in an enterprise setting. There are agencies and/or caucuses who are using Google Apps or will be using Google Apps. They’ll have their very own “buzz” that is entirely their own. Pretty slick stuff coming down the pipeline.

- siriusly - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 1:53 pm:
I tried Google Goggles on my phone, it is extremely cool - but I didn’t find it real useful. I removed the App, but may try it again later.

- Macbeth - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:00 pm:
===
Didn’t even know about that. Wow. My iPhone seems so… old.
===

Just wait until June. The 4G should have a processor that’s nearly identical to the one in the upcoming iPad — which means super-fast speed and a whole new slew of application possibilities.

The Android phones will feel old after June. :)

- Jake Parrillo - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:03 pm:
@Macbeth - spoken like a true fanboy.

- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:16 pm:
Ah, the Google kid is here. Welcome home, Jake.

- TimB - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:16 pm:
++Didn’t even know about that. Wow. My iPhone seems so… old.++

I think I’ll stop by the phone store this evening and check into upgrading my bag phone. I may be missing some technology here.

- Jake Parrillo - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:22 pm:
@ Rick Miller - it has, indeed, been too long.

- Jake Parrillo - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:22 pm:
ummm…rich that is. heh.

- Ghost - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:23 pm:
Technology is moving us closer to a shared consciouness… What are we up to today…..what shall we do….where are we…

We are borg….

- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:25 pm:
And it has its price, Ghost.

- Anon - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:37 pm:
so there are “mobile” phones now? Interesting. How does this affect Sarah the operator’s job? Will she still be able to connect me to Mt. Pilot?

- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 2:52 pm:
lol, Anon. Where do you live? I’m packing up and heading out your way.

- Justice - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 3:03 pm:
As for me and mine…..I prefer to stop and smell the roses. We are fast getting disconnected from what is truly important and being pulled into total distraction. We’ll move through time looking down and forget there is a sun, stars, a soft breeze, and sweet smells in the air….but we’ll know what’s going on in our devices, because we’re trapped in them. Good grief….I need a beer, a dooby, and a hammock.

- dupage dan - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 3:07 pm:
All this stuff that allows us to see what is going on around us in minute detail and still, we can’t know what is going on in our gov’t. Mayby we oughtta have this program allow us to see where every tax dollar goes - kinda like GPS on cash. Now that would be useful.

- Thomas Westgard - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 3:45 pm:
The timing of the launch for Buzz was fantastic, since Facebook just released another of its annoying, unannounced format changes. I wouldn’t go as far as Mark Zuckerberg did when he said that privacy is meaningless now, but it definitely means something different from what it used to mean. You can often use Facebook to figure out someone’s mother’s maiden name, especially if they have one of the family apps installed, and high school name is even easier. Combine that with recent research on figuring out SSNs based on date and location of birth and the basic secrets aren’t so secret anymore, with very little work. We will need a new standard for figuring out who’s Who and who’s just pretending to be Who.

- Amalia - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 3:52 pm:
imagine if this was in use for the last election. we’d be innundated by “I’m talking about Scott Lee Cohen and so
are my friends. take look on the map.”

this is making headway toward the measurement of activity
and the penetration of markets, not just here’s how many
friends I have and how many I’m following on Twitter.

and it seems to fit into the mindset of that big tech player…..
Ashton Kutcher, and his company Katalyst. The Google,
as I love to call them, is pointing the way toward
monitization, something which Kutcher thinks will
show that Twitter is obsolete. The new plan also
does the kind of integration of different media platforms
which provides new communication. the kind of
world where “sleepy Quinn staffer” makes the real
money he deserves, and where the other so called
big political consultants make somewhat less cause
we’re seeing and listening differently, and in greater
numbers. unless of course it’s Sunday’s Super Bowl.

i’m not a fan of the rumor thing, but this can go beyond
that with good links.

- chitownhv - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 3:57 pm:
Why dont I see it in my gmail page?

- Jake Parrillo - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 3:59 pm:
@chitownhv - it is being rolled out slowly. Eventually, all @gmail.com users will get it. Soon.

- MrJM - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 4:06 pm:
Waitaminnit?

gOOgle.com?

No wonder my search results have been sub-optimal — I’ve been using giggle.com

dammit!

– MrJM

- zatoichi - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 4:25 pm:
All this stuff is great, fun, naturally extremely important to someone, and shows some cool technology jumps. I can be as geeky/techy as they come, but I also find a need to unplug and go dig in dirt. Lived on a beeper and cell 24/7 for a bunch of years. Now I regularly ‘lose’ the toys and simply do not turn them on. How much info do you actually need access to? It’s kinda like the day somewhere in your mid 20’s when you realize you’ve been to the party 100’s of times and it’s getting old. Maybe I’m turning into a geezer but just because you can does not mean you have to. Need to call someone to decide what beer to buy or locate someone you dated 20 years ago? Just pick something interesting and let the past go. Go take a trip with a paper map and enjoy yourself. Assassins Creed II will be waiting in the basement.

- Apple - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 4:56 pm:
@chitownhv - It’ll take some time for the update to work its way through the gmail accounts.

- BradyismyMan - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 7:31 pm:
Here is how Brady can win in November:

1) Keep focus on the economy.
2) Ground Game
3) Thompson
4) Redistricting Plan with Computers
5) Term Limits

These things are all about reform, and what we need in illinois is a break from the past and Independents can and will get on board with this message!

- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 8:45 pm:
lol, z. Your last sentence gives a whole new meaning to “Don’t Look In The Basement”.

- Rambler - Tuesday, Feb 9, 10 @ 10:15 pm:
I’m not happy with the new Facebook “upgrade” and combine that with the sleek Buzz video gets me thinking about making a change.

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