I’m sure those of you who read this blog will have heard what Google Buzz is already. If you haven’t, Buzz is a real time sharing service, much like Twitter. It allows you to post status updates, like Twitter, but what it adds is the ability to share pictures and videos directly. Services like TwitPic are not required. For a bit better introduction to the service, check out the video from their announcement:
As soon as I saw this, it reminded me a lot of Google Wave. It strikes me as a way for Google to push a Wave-like service out in a way that users will understand, since many, including me, didn’t have a clue what it was for. I’m hoping that Google have carried over Wave’s best features, like the ability to drag and drop photos from your computer to upload. If they have, I think they will be taking away a key barrier to entry for “normal users” to get started sharing online, as figuring out how to share pictures on Twitter is hardly simple.
The key difference between Buzz and Wave, for me, is that they’re not trying to replace a well established system (i.e. email) with a new protocol. They are trying to compete with the current “trendy” site, perhaps thinking a little too much of their own influence, but sites come in and out of fashion all the time – email does not. They’re also giving it to all GMail users straight away, and allowing you to link it with your Twitter profile, making the potential audience pretty huge.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Google Buzz develops, and whether or not anyone actually uses it after the initial… err, Buzz… has died down. Of course, my first question is, when’s the first Wordpress “Buzz New Posts” plugin coming?
What about my number one reason… I have a comment but I’m too damn lazy at the moment to force it out of me.