Google added a new social feature by the name Google Buzz. Most of you must have noticed it already when you logged into Gmail. Google suggests that it will help us organize our social information and remain connected. Here is the snapshot of the screen which you might already have seen or will be greeted with when you login to Gmail.
Unlike Google Wave, released last year, this one is built right into Gmail so making it very accessible in the first place. Secondly, just like any Google product all your contacts are already in your network. As you may notice in the following screen shot your most contacted friends will automatically be added to the list of people you’ll follow.
So what exactly does Buzz do?
Buzz helps you share photos, videos and links publicly or privately with your friends and also helps you stay updated with the same thing that your friends do. As of now, you can integrate your Flickr and Twitter account into Buzz. And Google does admit the efficiency of those already existing services and calls Buzz an open platform allowing all developers and social tools to participate. Now what I really like about the Buzz thread, personally, is the inline support for media. You can play the shared videos without leaving the page or flip through pictures from a shared link and even view a slide show of someone’s Picasa album. Now that will maybe mark the end of leaving Twitter homepage to view stuff. Also, there’s no character limit on your Buzz, though that’s not a big issue given the world’s comfort level with Twitter today.
Here is a preview of the interface inside Buzz once you set it up. For instance I have my Google Talk status messages set to private and the Tweets to public.
Head over to buzz.google.com for more details, specially if you haven’t been invited yet because Google has just begun rolling out this service so it might be a while before everyone gets it.
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