Buzz...

The latest social media trend is Google's new Buzz. I am probably a week late with this post, but I needed some time to test-run the new platform. I will not mention the ongoing lawsuits and privacy issues Google is now struggling with... (ok, maybe I will mention it... but that is not the point of this post!)

The advantage of social media is getting the word out. We spread our knowledge, comments, experiences, and information in a new public way across many platforms. We are able to post in one place, and the info is spread to Twitter followers, our blog, Facebook (#fb), and now Buzz...

One of the advantages of Twitter is that is had taught us to say more with fewer words-- and shorter words too! We only have 140 characters. But Buzz allows more, and it allows commenting in threads similar to our email inboxes.

So Buzz gives me another place to spread my idiocy online. It will pull all the random places I already profess my intelligence into one place for my friends. With Buzz, I can link my twitter, blogger, picasa, etc. accounts and all the updates will show to all my followers. Followers are made up of people I email with my gmail account. Or at least it begins that way. I can then connect with others by following their contacts in a way very similar to twitter and facebook.

So if my friends aren't already following me on Twitter or facebook, they can catch up with me on buzz-- I will most likely be saying the same things! The advantage is for me whose friends don't have the time commitment for twitter, but will post something quickly when checking their gmail. It's also a good way to connect to people that I may not be in touch with via email, but my friends are! It's a no commitment way to contact and hear from them.

A few other quick Buzz thoughts:

• It's extraneous but pretty user friendly in the world of social media.
• Buzz is what wave should have been.
• You can choose to follow only your friends or you can look at it as an opportunity to expand your social media reach.
• Buzzes can get confused with emails. Be careful not to reply to an email via Buzz and publicize everything that should have been private correspondence!

And lastly, if you have gmail, you have no choice but to learn Buzz. Don't worry, though- it is user friendly and you will most probably like it!