Is Google Buzz Dead Already?

A timely article from Search Engine Land which looks at how interest in Google Buzz has quickly fallen off. This comes as no surprise at all; I was used to getting a lot of Buzz notifications and chat coming through - in the hundreds, but this has all but petered out; I've not looked at mine in days and there's still only 35 unread pieces there - most of which are going to be tweets that I've already seen.

Not surprised are you? No, thought not. Orkut (Google's attempt at a social network) has never set the world alight, Wave was less than a ripple, and Buzz has the impact of a rather elderly bee with one wing. Try as it might, Google simply doesn't understand social media. They rushed out Buzz without consideration, backtracked over the privacy issues and generally 'didn't get it'. It reminds me of the situation 20 years ago when Microsoft didn't get the Internet. They've been struggling to keep up and are finally getting into the game. I wonder at the extent to which social media is going to be Google's really weak spot. Meanwhile it's back to Twitter and Facebook for me, and everyone else I reckon.

Comments

[Automated Forex Trading System]

I think the problem is we haven’t seen any compelling reason for us to be using Buzz yet. The main selling point of this service over Twitter or any other competitor is the simplicity of use. After all what could be easier then an email embedded social network? The problem as I see it though is that ease of use isn’t in itself compelling. If Buzz were to expand its offering to give us a reason for wanting to use it then we might begin to appreciate the simplicity the system brings. As of right now though they’ve only succeeded in attaching the Google name to an already established norm.

[Jan D Horn]

I occassionally encounter minor hitches and glitches with Facebook, but in comparison, Google Buzz turned out to be not worth a tinker's curse. Unlike Picasa Web Albums which worked badly, Buzz did not work at all, and after all these years, Gmail Notifier hasn't worked for almost a month now. Has Google been sabotaged by avenging Chinese hackers?