A few days ago the internet superpower, Google, announced Buzz. This is at least their third attempt at a social networking platform. There was Orkurt, which only seemed to take off in South America and at least one other attempt to gain market share in the social networking arena. For all intensive purposes we will just say third time is the charm.
To explain Google Buzz in a few words, I would say it is Twitter meets Google Latitude. The majority of the innovations comes in the mobile version. Android users can post Buzzes natively on Google Maps and Google Search widget, and other users can access the mobile site. You can upload pictures and have messages Geo-tagged to your exact location. Not only does it give an address, but it can also give the name of the store, mall, school, or other place that you are currently in.
| Feature | Android 2.0+ | BlackBerry | iPhone | Nokia S60 | Windows Mobile |
| buzz.google.com |  |
Coming soon | |
Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Buzz Layer on Google Maps for mobile | |
Coming soon | |
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| Buzz on a Place Page | |
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| Voice shortcuts | |
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| Buzz icon shortcuts | |
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Buzz is very infantile currently and it will take at least a month to see if it will be a success. So far there have been millions and millions of Buzzes sent from mobile phones and the integrated Gmail application. This was Google’s plan to get Buzz out there by using the millions of Gmail users that they already have to get it started.
You can integrate all of your other social networking sites, personal RSS feeds, and many other services. Sign up for your Google Account now if you haven’t already and see where Google goes with this.
You can follow me on Buzz by clicking Follow Kyle Dornblaser.