FirstTake: What Google Buzz Means

I might be the only one who thinks this, but in my opinion, Android is the secret sauce that makes all of this work. As Android phones get released and consumers slip them in their pockets, which social apps do you think will work most seamlessly with the phone and the rest of its native apps? My guess Gmail and Google Buzz. And as mobile devices overtake computers as the device of choice for internet use, this gives Google a massive competitive advantage I think.

Thanks for the recap Jeremiah.

To your point on effects in the SERPs, I was at a session at Google in Boston last Friday on the Future of search where they highlighted their direction in Friend-Augmented Search – which will personalize the SERPs based on the behavior (Click-thru on certain results, etc.) of the user's social graph (albeit, likely the behavior of others in your social circle who opt in to it from their Google Profile). Therefore, not only will important “tweeters” impact a businesses brand in the SERPs, but increasingly one size will not fit all. In other words, more and more dimensions will impact the presence of a business or brand in the SERPs, including multiple kinds of social aspects – including the opinions of the searchers closest friends and colleagues.

Businesses that create fans and evangelists will likely have a better rank and more positive content displaying in their brand related search results.

Does it make sense for Google to buy Posterous? Seems like the technology would be perfect for streamlining the world of status/content updates. Not that Google can't built the same technology, but it would be bringing in an audience of extremely passionate users.

Sounds like 2010 is shaping up to apply social media strategies that 2009 prepped everyone to understand. It's about time Google and Facebook go head to head, with Twitter in between.

Jeremiah, how do you think this will fit in with Google Social Search?

Great analysis Jeremiah. I especially liked your point about how small businesses could use this to boost their search results by landing a top 'buzzer.' Interesting idea…

Thanks for this analysis, I've been trying to really pin down the “why” google did this, and I think this is it. I'm also excited about the possibilities for small business use, Buzz is going to prove to be a very powerful part of the social media world.

Jeremiah-
I agree with your analysis of Email & social being the same. Your most trusted contacts are in your email list, and this an email address/list is usually a starting point for expanding your network in social spaces. It only makes sense that the two would merge. I really think Google is putting Facebook in it's cross-hairs. I'm really anxious to see how Buzz influences organic search.

One thing for sure is that buzz will give Google more insight into consumer behavior, and more specific targets for advertisers.

Plus, this will definitely help them improve the real-time search results they can deliver. They already pull some info from Twitter for real-time search, so adding more data to the real-time stream from Buzz could help improve this search channel as well. And as that improves, I think there will be less and less opportunity for people to game Google's search engine, instead your results will be influenced by your social network, browsing history, location etc. and less on other traditional long-standing ranking factors.

Exciting times for sure!

Great post Jeremiah–

My mind is filled with ideas of course, but the one that keeps yelling the loudest is how far Buzz will lower the social web's barrier to entry for everyone who isn't “tech-savvy”, let alone an early adopter.

Take my MIL for instance. She just joined Facebook and like many people, gives me the blank stare of death whenever I start “geeking out on her”. How nice it will be to tell her to just create a Google profile and click on the Buzz icon in her email nav? Once people see and feel the pulse of social media, they usually get it. Teaching them to tweet and what an RT is seems to be the hard part.

Great post Jeremiah–

My mind is filled with ideas of course, but the one that keeps yelling the loudest is how far Buzz will lower the social web's barrier to entry for everyone who isn't “tech-savvy”, let alone an early adopter.

Take my MIL for instance. She just joined Facebook and like many people, gives me the blank stare of death whenever I start “geeking out on her”. How nice it will be to tell her to just create a Google profile and click on the Buzz icon in her email nav? Once people see and feel the pulse of social media, they usually get it. Teaching them to tweet and what an RT is seems to be the hard part.

I guess I come from the opposite side, because I do not see email and social networks as the same, not at all. I see them as different contacts silos with different use cases. The fact that Google is doing this gets my attention. Yahoo and MSN are too far outside of my online life to be useful this way. But on the other hand, I'm still not sure that I'll find Buzz useful or helpful or just a PITA.

Don't see any evidence as to why this would be true… “For consumers, this could potentially have more adoption than Twitter as Gmail has a large footprint Google told me it’s tens of millions (active monthly unique). Of course, most Gmail users likely aren’t Twitter users, but there could be a large platform to draw from.”

Interesting that Google is so late to this game – considering the early lead they COULD have had via Orkut, and aggregation via iGoogle. SideWiki appears to be another also ran – too late, and hidden to the vast majority of users, of course that's still relatively early in it's release/adoption as well.

BTW – social networks exist independently of specific channels, and they don't have to be communications based. There are plenty of social networks, for example many different groups of buyers on Amazon, that are not connected or “friending” each other per se, yet still make up social networks – connected by common interests and behaviors.

[...] and how it might work. Altimeter Group’s Jeremiah Owyang has already posted a quick take on what Google Buzz will mean. Key [...]

[...] Quicktake: What Google Buzz Means (web-strategist.com) [...]

[...] has some useful insights Share this [...]

Thanks Jeremiah,

You were spot on about email and social networks. This knock out battle between Facebook and Google is a fascinating phenomenon and our dependance on Google may yet win the day (their Gmail footprint being so enormous as you mention). It's also interesting to watch the tension between twitter and Googles mission statements – one organizing and another tracking with the world in real time. They are not mutually exclusive and twitter would prove a crowning asset to Google in its battle with facebook. I'll watch closely and listen closely to your predictions. Thanks again, Simon

Google buzz improve features you can also add social features to any products you want. This is great for building social apps. Google Buzz is really amazing. Sikat ang Pinoy

[...] Buzz haalt links naar filmpjes (via Youtube) en foto’s (via Google Picasa) automatisch naar voren, waar je met name bij Twitter nog beperkt wordt door het beperkte aantal lettertekens (140)  en externe verwijzingen. Volgens de Amerikaanse internetkenner Jeremiah Owyang is Buzz in eerste instantie een bedreiging voor Facebook, dat onlangs zijn dienst vernieuwde. Voor Twitter is Buzz meer een extra uithangbord, schrijft Owynag op zijn weblog. [...]

Just another repackaged twitter/facebook/friendfeed

http://www.techwankers.com/2010/02/09/breaking-...

[...] Owyang, Web Strategist for the Altimeter Group said today, “To Facebook, this is a direct threat, these features emulate Friendfeed and the [...]

I find this feature really nice .. I saw the video .. it would be really easy to share …photos , videos and information .. and the best thing abt it is .. that you can select users with whom you want to share it with …

Best,
Daina

[...] is a killer service to take on the likes of Twitter and Facebook. Others say it’s more of a “social content aggregator” and only another milestone along the road where Google is travelling (I was sorely tempted to [...]

Good thoughts. I think you're right one.

[...] you rather want to read the ‘Quicktake: What Google Buzz Means’ its delivered to you by Jeremiah Owyang at the [...]

That's right David, if that happens this means peers influence their friends more so than before. This means advocacy programs become *so* important to brands.

Funny pics on that post Johnson, No one said this was innovative. Google tends to be slower, but often does it better. The big thing they have going is integrating this with Google.com

Dan

In a game of margins, Google just needs 1% growth rate to activate their gmail base and grow it out. Again, the biggest opportunity is combing this with existing Search and SERP pages spreading Buzz.

It's a tricky spot for Google, should they be more simple like Twitter, or appeal to advanced user like Friendfeed? It lies somewhere in between.

Bas

Now you're thinking. All the social web data that Google is collecting will eventually be served up in SERP pages. I asked the product team about this, they nodded towards this direction, but said social content won't be treated much differently than other web content when it comes to rankings.

[...] is a killer service to take on the likes of Twitter and Facebook. Others say it’s more of a “social content aggregator” and only another milestone along the road where Google is travelling (I was sorely tempted to [...]

Google does well to buy technologies that are truly innovative (Dodgeball, although I'm not sure they did anything with it), or ones that are a competitive threat (they bought some companies that threatened google docs). I don't see Posterous fitting in either of those two categories.

Michael

Android is one of the ingredients in the sauce, but not the whole recipe. Expect Google to make its software features available on any handset or mobile devices.

You're absolutely right about Google making it's software available on every mobile device. What I was trying to get at was the incremental opportunity Google has over facebook, twitter and the like. All three can build apps for every mobile handset… but only Google (eventually) can integrate itself perfectly seamlessly with a mobile operating system that it owns and pre-package it with every mobile device that uses its operating system that gets sold. Its the same advantage that Microsoft Office enjoyed over Corel Office. Probably didn't make that point clear enough – and still not sure if I'm doing a good job, actually.

Speaking of Microsoft, if Microsoft had been able to make Windows Mobile work well enough to be a big player, they would have had a similar opportunity I think based on IM and hotmail

Jeremiah, might this actually be the marketing that makes people get a real google profile? Without that, they can't really make social search work. With buzz they get a google profile, with a google profile they can roll out the social search. With social search google has more and more personalized pages for search. This gives 2 advantages
1) adwords become more valuable, since every company without a social reach can't get into someones network with just good seo
2) more personal search means better search. So this is the way they can keep search alive and not lose to personal networks for finding stuff, like Twitter.

I'm not sure about this new technology. I'm certainly a layman, but when I login to gmail I'm just in the facebook [soc. media] zone.

I can't help but feel like Google holds us all hostage.

While I welcome their technological advances, I can't help but think they and a couple others are becoming monopolies and holding us all hostage — kind of like the big 3 phone companies back in the 1980's. We need to make sure we're supporting valid competitors and others with technological innovation.

Personally, it's nearly impossible to keep up with the amount of Social Media tools and sites — it's information overload and makes you almost feel “old” when you can't keep up. While it's understood you should choose a couple and stick with those, our clients expect us to stay abreast of who's the best to do that with and why or why they shouldn't choose to engage. It's mentally back braking work and often feels redundant. And now Google jumps into the ring?

[...] zijn website vernieuwde. Voor Twitter is Buzz vooralsnog vooral een extra uithangbord, schrijft Owyang op zijn weblog. Hij verwacht wel dat Buzz wel eens sneller zou kunnen groeien dan [...]

Google/Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo should just team up so that they can just take the lead away from Facebook, or at least put up a fight.

Nook, I don't expect that to happen unless there's an acquisition.

[...] Owyang at Web Strategy: At the high level, this is a strong move for Google, they continue to aggregate other [...]

This is a great breakdown of what Google Buzz means. It pushes everyone to move faster and to innovate better. If Google can leverage their Google users to create something like this — it'll be a huge win and a huge loss for both Twitter and Facebook. I wonder if Facebook will close it's channel to Google.

Although, I wonder — is the inbox as sacred as a lot of my non-techie friends say it is? Is this space too personal to add a social layer to it. Interesting conversations coming outside of the tech world.

Simply another piece in the Google jigsaw. Bringing it into the fold alongside email is a masterstoke. Platforms are coming together more and more, will we see the rise of super-platforms? The only difference between email and social networks will lie in the ability to choose who I choose to communicate with and whether that communication is public or private. End of the day all are communication channels.

Facebook is trying to embed the email service but Google is trying to embed social network to its email service, This is stunning.

[...] Executive Summary:  Stay Focused On Where Customers Already Are Google’s entrance causes media havoc but web strategists should stay focused.  Find out where customers already are through developing data around consumer behavior called socialgraphics.  Facebook continues to demonstrate a sophisticated marketplace for consumers and brands to mix about, however don’t discount MySpace’s active consumer based –if your customers are there.  Continue to monitor Twitter and respond if customers are there –but they’ve yet to indicate sophistication to help marketers, instead rely on third party tools and agencies to respond.  The feature set of newly spawned Google Buzz isn’t important, what matters is their ability to aggregate social content which will impact search strategy for businesses trying to reach consumers, read my first take analysis. [...]

[...] Owyang در Web Strategy: در سطح بالا، این یک حرکت قوی از گوگل محسوب می‌شود که [...]

Being a Small Business, if you will, I'm already hammered administrating contacts/content in several Social Networks and it's getting overwhelming. If this keeps up there will almost be no time for regular work.

A compelling aspect of buzz is how it leverages the rich context of Google maps. No other location-aware service does this. Buzz doesn't plot me as a lat/lng. It's a an address, or a business name, and the prompt to select a relevant location works well. This is really cool, and could also be a threat to Yelp.

However, from a non-Gmail user perspective, it's a mess. I'm a Google Apps user, and right now, there's a big disconnect between gBuzz and Google Apps, as Google Accounts and Google Apps logins do not play well together. In fact, the whole concept of a 'Google Account' is alien to most people (with the exception of straight up Gmail users who get an Account by default). Have you ever tried to get a person to associate their email address with a Google Account? Yikes. And the Google captcha is a nightmare.

Finally, the fact that Google forces you to have a public profile to post a Buzz is a bit oppressive. And your Google Profile has your real name displayed, you cannot display the nickname (that I've found) and still post a 'buzz'.

There's a reason people have handles on public services, like Yelp or Twitter, and keep their FB profiles private. Yes, I can create a private Buzz, but that forces me to make a choice. If you force a decision, the dropoff in completion is significant.

This is not to say gBuzz will fail. All I suggest is they will have a struggle to achieve mainstream adoption. It's still to techy, too geeky. And too many decisions are required. There is something very valuable in what they are trying to achieve, and it is all about improving search, and therefore it's in direct alignment with their mission (and primary revenue source)

[...] Jeremiah Owyang – First Take: What Google Buzz Means [...]

[...] Web Strategy的Jeremiah Owyang： 以这么高的规格，可见Google这次的决心，他们继续聚合大家的社会化内容，变成社会化中介。这可以帮助那些抱怨twitter、Flickr和其它哪些开放API工具的人们更好的组织内容，Google继续自己组织全球信息的任务。 [...]

[...] Jeremiah Owyang در Web Strategy: [...]

[...] Quicktake: What Google Buzz Means (web-strategist.com) [...]

[...] که پیشنهاد می‌کنیم ما را همراهی کنید. خوب: Jeremiah Owyang در Web Strategy:در سطح بالا، این یک حرکت قوی از گوگل محسوب می‌شود که [...]

[...] Quicktake: What Google Buzz Means « Web Strategy by Jeremiah … [...]

[...] Quicktake: What Google Buzz Means « Web Strategy by Jeremiah … [...]

[...] Web Strategy 的 Jeremiah Owyang： [...]

Is “commoditizing” a word? That's a new one for me. However, thanks for the information.

[...] Valley Web strategist takes aim at the short- and long-term implications of Google Buzz in First Take, What Google Buzz Means: [T]his is a strong move for Google, they continue to aggregate other people’s social content, [...]

I don't mean to be rude, but check your its/ it's Apostrophe for it is, no apostrophe for ownership.

[...] talk about how it is vindication that email is the social network, but I’m finding my experience much closer to Fred’s that we can’t assume [...]

[...] FirstTake: What Google Buzz Means [...]

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[...] Social Search en de enorme impact die dit gaat hebben voor recruitment. Toen ik Jeremiah Owyang op zijn blog vroeg of hij ook dacht dat Buzz en Social Search heel veel kruisbestuiving hadden was zijn antwoord [...]

[...] First Take: What Google Buzz Means February 15, 2010 | Filed Under Google, Social Media | Bookmark this post | 1 Comment Thanks for reading my blog, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow me on Twitter for future updates and information as well! [...]

[...] to surpass LinkedIn as the business network of choice.  Twitter is also in trouble due to what Jeremiah Owyang calls the commoditization of data.  Why use point solutions when Buzz aggregates all of your [...]

[...] my class unanimously agreed that Google Buzz is late in the game but Google had no choice. Read Jeremiah’s take on this strategy and the impact on the stakeholder spectrum (facebook, twitter, SEO etc.). Personally, I agree with [...]

Regarding “Buzz could have faster adoption rate than Twitter”, despite the privacy missteps Buzz appears to have good momentum relative to Twitter at this stage. Leo Laporte was one of the most popular Twitter users and he said this about Buzz recently “I'm not sure if this means anything but it took me a year to get to 10,000 followers on Twitter. It only took me a week on Buzz.” http://bit.ly/asBBmb

Regarding “Buzz could have faster adoption rate than Twitter”, despite the privacy missteps Buzz appears to have good momentum relative to Twitter at this stage. Leo Laporte was one of the most popular Twitter users and he said this about Buzz recently “I'm not sure if this means anything but it took me a year to get to 10,000 followers on Twitter. It only took me a week on Buzz.” http://bit.ly/asBBmb

First Take: What Google Buzz Means « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media…

First Take: What Google Buzz Means « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing…

[...] media in one place. Will privacy concerns slow down the march of Google Buzz? Not according to Jeremiah Owyang, “Privacy woes will scare consumers, yet adoption will continue upwards.” Stay tuned to find [...]

[...] View full post on Top Social Media Minds [...]

[...] Owyang در Web Strategy: در سطح بالا، این یک حرکت قوی از گوگل محسوب می‌شود که [...]

[...] “All the social web data that Google is collecting will eventually be served up in SERP pages. I asked the product team about this (and) they nodded towards this direction, but said social content won’t be treated much differently than other web content when it comes to rankings. Expect Google to harvest as much social content as possible, then as an intermediary, serve it up on search then monetize. This is Google being Google.” – What Google Buzz Means – Jeremiah Owyang – Web Strategist [...]

[...] (97)  Firsttake: ce buzz google moyens [...]

i am agree with you that Google has fantastic tools for business owners who want to market their website in extraordinary ways. Google integrates Social Media quite well.
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[...] Owyang at Web Strategy: At the high level, this is a strong move for Google, they continue to aggregate other [...]

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Any ony tell what the Google Buzz mean.I can;t understand of that Buzz. why Google Make Buzz.

i think u give ring to other persons

I m enjoying the Buzz Feature provided by Google, It's Cool …….

wow! really great article! thanx !:)
it is very useful!

[...] to surpass LinkedIn as the business network of choice.  Twitter is also in trouble due to what Jeremiah Owyang calls the commoditization of data.  Why use point solutions when Buzz aggregates all of your [...]

The 'buzz' around Google Buzz soon disappeared. Are Google having problems? Is this the beginning of the end for them? Who knows.

Thanks for the “definition” about Buzz , i searched for this some time ago.

[...] trusted source when customers have opt-in.  When you look closely, email is a social network, see how Google wants to do it. In fact, the root information requirement for Twitter and Facebook is a verified [...]

Google Buzz is very new social network but develop very fast, I don't know why?

I guess I come from the opposite side, because I do not see email and social networks as the same, not at all.

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