Andrew Nimick - Technology consultant Andrew is an independent technology consultant whose focus is what technology can do for business and finding the best tools for the job.

Well this week has been all a buzz with the launch and consequent criticism of Google Buzz. Buzz is Google's social media platform – an attempt to play catch up with Facebook and Twitter, but actually more like Friendfeed (bought by Facebook).

By connecting it to people's Gmail accounts, Google tried to overcome the criticism they received with Wave that it was isolated. However, in doing so they made a privacy mistake. They treated people as data and forgot that some contacts in our mail we don't want to talk to in a personal manner or let others know about. We would not have them on Facebook.
Google seems to have rushed Buzz out and did not do suitable testing, strange for a company which has had beta tests on the go for years.
A lot of people have complained that it does not connect with Facebook and Twitter well enough or at all. Others have claimed it is a Facebook killer. The first misses the point, Google don't want another 'me too”. They have always done things their way. Nor do they want to recreate Facebook. They want to pull some of its users back and provide a solid platform including mail, apps, reader and the other offerings they have in place. In this way they maintain their position and their income stream.
There are issues with the interface and it is putting plenty of people off. My big complaint is not being able to hide comments to other people's post until I want to read them. This means I have to do a lot of scrolling at present.
I am not concerned with it not being overly connected to other social networks. I see it becoming a niche and eventually larger network of its own with different methods of use. I am already starting to see people using it to make short blog posts and then engaging in conversations – not just comments about these posts. Mini forums shoot up and drop off just as they did in Friendfeed. People seem to forget that Twitter and Facebook are both the shape they are in part because of the way people used them. The same will be true of Buzz. It needs a little time then we can decide if Google have a useful social application or an also ran. With Google size and reach, I think it will stick and develop.