My Social Media Problem - Google Buzz

Ahh the new kid on the block, Google Buzz.

So much hype and hate, so much promise and demise, at least that is what the tech pundits tell us.  I previously posted some of my thoughts on Google Buzz here as I had been using it for some time inside if Google prior to its public release.

Buzz will continue to evolve, per Google's mantra of release early and often and iterate based on user feedback (as can be seen by the improvements already made here and here).  In my mind Buzz has immense potential, but I want to explore my experience with Buzz in its current state.

To begin, there are two requirements to use Google Buzz.  First you need to have a Gmail account as Buzz is accessed from inside of Gmail.  Secondly you need to create a Google profile like the one I have here.

Once you have a Gmail account and Google profile you can have at it with Buzz.  With Buzz you are able to follow anyone with a Google profile and anyone can follow you.  Buzz does allow you to hide your list of followers and those that are following you if you deem necessary, it also lets you easily follow people who you email with frequently upon set-up.

As of today I am following 130 people and have 133 following me.

I love the ability to post 140 characters+ (one of my growing beefs with Twitter as I use Buzz more often).  You can post a whole article and even embed pictures from that post.  Pop in a link of an article and you get the first few sentences, plus you can pull in images from the link.  From here the reader of a Buzz is able to click a link ("Expand this post") that lets them read the entire article from inside Buzz.  I can't tell you how much I love staying in the Buzz environment and being able to consume entire articles, it is a simple time saver.

Not only can you post entire articles on Buzz with any amount of characters, you can respond to Buzzes at any length you would like.  Similar to Facebook you can also "like" a Buzz.  The no character limit in Buzz overcomes a hurdle I have with Twitter - the ability to engage in deeper conversations, both on a one to one level as well as on a group thread.  Even with a drastically smaller amount of followers and people I am following, I  find I get to have more back and forth conversation, a la Friendfeed (many people have already called out the similarities between Buzz and FF).  The ability to see the comments in Buzz let's you not only respond to the original Buzz itself, but the comments within that Buzz, similar to commenting directly on a blog or article.

On top of threading a Buzz and all of its comments, I have the ability to link to a buzz, email a buzz, view all buzzes from that person, mute the buzz (this means it will no longer show in my thread of buzzes), stop following the user, report abuse (yeah, I can help highlight SPAM! Twitter needs to add this feature asap) and I can reply by Gchat if that individual and I are Gchat friends.  Also, email Buzz@gmail.com and it will push your thoughts, notes, article or picture out to Buzz (I love using this on my phone). The ways to share, consume and have a dialog on Buzz are very robust and versatile, I am a big fan of this.

And we haven't even explored mobile yet.

Google Buzz for mobile is a totally different experience than what you see on your desktop.  Here you can Buzz and see Buzzes as you would on the desktop.  Beyond that you are able to see people who are buzzing near you (if you opt in to location sharing).  You are able check-in similar to Foursquare and Gowalla, although I like checking via Foursquare or Gowalla for the time being.  You can take a picture and post it to Buzz.  On top of all this, you can open Google Maps and see all the buzzes around you as well as Buzz from Google maps (you are able to check in, buzz and attach a picture via Maps).  Did you get all that?  I know, it's a lot...

Buzz certainly creates an environment that breeds engagement and conversation.  The feature that best lends itself to this is being able to instantly see your comment directly below the original buzz.  Too often it feels like you @reply in Twitter and disappears into the ether purely because you can't see it sitting on top of the original Tweet/Buzz.

Oh yeah, pictures posted to Buzz look great!

Also, videos play inline!

Google Buzz allows you to pull in content from numerous sites.  I currently have my Blogger account, Twitter account, Gchat status, YouTube account, Picasa, Flickr and Reader pushing content into Buzz.  While there are ways to link other accounts to push into Buzz or to have Buzz push its content out, it isn't available at set-up and something I wont go into.  Google needs to allow for easier linking to other accounts, especially when it comes to pushing content out.  Although the more I use Buzz I see where pushing content out of Buzz can be an issue as the content you Buzz doesn't lend itself to a lot of platforms (think of Twitter's 140 character restriction, or having embedded pictures push to FB - not sure if that is feasible at the moment).

There are multiple areas where Buzz needs improvement and many voices have expressed what they would like to see improved.

I am having a serious issue with duplicity of content, mostly as it pertains to Reader and Buzz.  For instance, I was following Mashable on Buzz as well as on Google Reader.  Due to me following them in Buzz they were also my friend in Reader (you have the ability to hide friends).  I should be able to read in Buzz or Reader and then have that content removed in Buzz or shown as read in my Reader.  As it stands now I see this content twice, both in Buzz and Reader.  I stopped following Mashable on Buzz to alleviate this issue.

The Buzz count showing below my unread emails in Gmail is just too damn addictive and at times makes me feel I am missing something.  I assume Google loves this and this is part of the power of having Buzz inside of Gmail, but it is making my ADD explode!  I would like to only see my Buzz count update when a new Buzz is posted or a Buzz I commented on or liked has a comment added to it. As it stands now any comment on any Buzz adds to my unread Buzz count.

Comments don't stack.  This is a common complaint from many users as one Buzz with a load of comments eats up a ton of the page.  Google needs to stack these comments and allow user to click to expand, similar to what they do with a long Buzz post or linked article.

Outside apps don't push immediately and then they stack up on top of each other.  This is a big issue with tweets pushing out on a lag time.  For instance five of my tweets will all push at once and then stack on top of each other.  This hurts from a real time standpoint as well as visibility of my individual tweets that get pushed to Buzz.

Having to hack /work around to push/pull content into and out of other sites.  You can set up Buzz to pull in apps such as Yelp or Foursquare as well as push content to Twitter, Facebook and other social apps, but this isn't evident to the typical user.  Currently it takes more of a power user to implement this.  I hope Google streamlines this process upon set-up.

As it stands now, following a lot of people is overwhelming, seems like you get the most out of Buzz with a smaller social circle, Twitter is really starting to feel like this as well and sometimes I wish I could start all over with following people.  I found that when I began using Buzz I started following a ton of people and it just got too noisy.  I had to stop follow the Scoble's and Mashable's of the world.  Somehow I am still following Louis Gray who seems to read and share a newspaper worth of articles each day.

I like that Google has taken a different approach to pushing Buzzes to the top, but I am not sure if it is the right way in its form today.  Currently Buzzes that show at the top don't follow the chronological order in which they are posted (Twitter and Facebook show your stream based on time posted), but instead they are based on their "popularity".  Popularity sums up to people liking or commenting on the Buzz, which is then deemed more relevant and thus shown at the top of your Buzz stream.  It appears Google is working to deliver more relevant results in your Buzz feed outside of time posted. As I mentioned in my previous post on Twitter, I want to see these sites get smarter about what they are showing me, and a simple timeline isn't the best answer.  I think Google is taking a stab at figuring out greater relevancy in the social world.  As a result we should (but not just yet) be able to follow those folks who post a ton of content and have Buzz know what content I want to see and what content to bury.  For the time being I would like to see Google give users a choice to follow Buzzes chronologically or via the current popularity system.

Buzz is starting to feel more like the central hub I desire in my social media world, the evolution and feature additions the Buzz team makes are going to determine whether or not I can fully make that move.

Onto the next one, Facebook

My Social Media Problem - Twitter

First up I am going to explore my Twitter usage as it feels like it is home base and the main starting point in most of my day to day social media activities.

Twitter has become the de facto sharing site in my social media world.  I come here to share links and click on links, see what others are saying, stay up on the here and now and trade brief conversations with real life friends and online followers.  I check my Twitter stream more than any other social media outlet I currently use.

As of today I am following 607 folks, have 529 following me, am listed 17 times and follow 18 lists.  If you are familiar with Twitter you can follow anyone and anyone can follow you back (unless of course you have your Tweets locked, which I feel doesn't allow you to get the full potential of Twitter).  On Twitter I am able to follow my friends, superstar athletes, pulitzer prize winning authors and writers, tech leaders, foodies, local and national news outlets, corporate titans, CEOs and so on.

Sharing on Twitter is fantastic, feedback from Twitter users is better, but not as frequent as I would like.  The feedback I get on Twitter is actionable and direct.  I like this, but I wish I was able to have more fruitful and engaging conversations.  Twitter's 140 characters weren't built for deep conversations. I find I have to move my twitter conversations to another platform, usually email but now slanting towards Google Buzz to get that greater engagement.

Twitter's simplicity and ease of use is fantastic.  How other applications plug into Twitter is a breeze.  I hook in a host of other social media applications which push to Twitter.  From Foursquare and Gowalla, to Hype Machine, Pandora and even my Sonos system.  Qik and YouTube are also linked to share the videos I create and videos I like.  Additionally, I push some of my liked items from Google Reader into Twitter.  On top of that most websites contain the "tweet this" link allowing me to tweet an article or video clip from anywhere on the web I am consuming content.  I use Tweetdeck, Seesmic and Brizzly to post tweets from my Mac and PC and Seesmic and Twidroid from my Nexus One.

From Twitter, I push all of my Tweets into my Facebook account as well as into Google Buzz.  I push from Twitter to extend my social media life cycle and create further engagement with my Facebook friends and Buzz followers.  I will delve into both Buzz and Facebook in separate upcoming posts.

My issues with Twitter are the inability to allow for deeper more engaged conversations, both on an individual level and with a group, as well as the lack of richness of items I push to Twitter.   For instance, my Gowalla or Foursquare check-ins are simply text with a link, some text I pop in if I choose, which is added to the location of where I am.  Other platforms, notably Facebook, pull in this content in a much richer format with maps and images.

Previously I detailed some of the many applications I have plugged into Twitter.  A problem arises with the noise I am creating for my followers in my Twitter steam as I plug in additional applications (as well as the noise I am getting from those I follow using multiple applications).  When I started Tweeting I continued to plugin each and every application that I was using to Twitter.

What eventually happened was a fair amount of backlash from some of my followers (and Facebook friends) due to the abundance of Tweets I was pushing out, and as a result each one of my Tweets were losing some of their intended effect.

Since the backlash and in the interest of my followers I unhooked most my social apps from Twitter and plugged a few back in overtime.  This then caused greater fragmentation across my social media usage and I lost the intended network effect of plugging these applications into Twitter to extend reach.

I would love to see Twitter make it possible, within one click, to take a conversation or group into email or perhaps deeper private group tweets.

As for the fire hose issue of pushing content from applications all over the web into Twitter, I wonder if there is a way where my followers can choose which applications outside of Twitter they want to see when I push that content into Twitter.  I doubt that is the best approach, but perhaps a bridge until Twitter gets smarter about the Tweets they show me and the ones my followers see from me.

One of the great aspects of Twitter is discoverability, finding things I wouldn't otherwise due to my followers.  The downfall here is a ton of noise from tweets I don't really care about that just clutter my stream.  Twitter's lists do this in a very simplistic form, but it is based on people, not the content from the people.

I am following every person on Twitter for some reason, I opted into their streams.  What I would like to see Twitter do is get smarter in figuring out how I interact with each users tweets and surface those tweets deemed more relevant to me and hide or bury tweets that are less likely to be engaging (for me).  For instance do I click on a persons link in their tweets a lot (relevant person I am engaged with), do I @reply to them (another point for engagement), is a specific Tweet from that person retweeted often (high relevance), and if we both are opted in and sharing our location does their tweet provide info that is relevant in the here and now (location aware).  All of these signals need to be taken into account, showing the most relevant and useful information to the individual - greater personalization.

Lots of great ways for Twitter to get smarter and make my followers and stream of tweets more useful and actionable to myself as well as my followers.  I hope some of this is on the road map, but in the meantime Twitter will still be at the center of my social media world.

Next up Google Buzz.

140 Characters or Less? Not Anymore...

With today's launch of Google Buzz there is a lot of talk about the product design and interface, the competitive landscape, pulling and pushing content in and out of Buzz and a whole host of other thoughts and opinions either loving or hating it. Since so much of that conversation is already going on I want to explore a different bent on Buzz.

Based on my past 6 months using Buzz internally at Google, I think Buzz could possibly change the depth and type of conversations that occur around our second by second socially shared content.

One of the initial complaints about Buzz is that it does not push out to Twitter, meaning you can't update Buzz and have that update push out and update your Twitter stream (It does work the other way around where your Tweets can push to Buzz). The issue here is Buzz has no character limits. Some of the content you create on Buzz wont be handled properly by Twitter and its 140 character limit.

As Twitter exploded in growth the 140 character limit gained fame for its ease of use and simple sharing. I applaud and love the simplicity that Twitter brings to the message. You have to be smart and concise with your thoughts and characters. But when I have a conversation via twitter replies I find it might be a reply or two back and forth, not much more and rarely involving more than 2-3 people, instant but not thorough.

Facebook does not have a character limit and I certainly see long threads based on status updates, but they have a different feel. More likes and quick responses vs. conversation and continued dialog. You also have the friend (Facebook) vs. Follower (Buzz and Twitter) difference. Here I find Followers more likely to participate in conversations.

As Sergey mentioned during the launch, he Buzzed an article he would be publishing on his recent trip to Haiti to ask for feedback and comments. What followed was a deep thread with thoughts on the Haiti article expressing various opinions, ideas and edits from other Googlers.

As I started following some folks yesterday I saw these deeper conversations firsthand with users (@Pete Cashmore and @Kevin Rose are good examples) who were new to the product. A lot of these Buzzes had to do with questions about Buzz and its functions or lack thereof. What happened from here was that groups formed around the initial Buzz. These groups were formed by commenting on the post and then being notified when someone responds back or joins the group with a new comment. I found that reading some of the threads was just as informative as comments at the end of a good article or blog post. I also found I was participating much more in the conversation (and multiple times) as opposed to pushing out messages, thoughts or links on Twitter. 

From initial observation Buzz starts to feel more like a conversational platform. Additionally, being able to see how many people have commented on a Buzz gives credibility to the topic, and in my mind makes the user more like to participate or read through the Buzz and its comments.

I understand the above paragraph reads somewhat like FriendFeed, but love or hate Buzz it is brilliantly integrated into Gmail leading to greater visibility, participation and frequency of use.

The unlimited character feature of Buzz could be really powerful and I think being able to share longer form content is a great differentiator for the product.

Can Buzz can change the way conversations and debates play out in the social space? You can certainly treat it like Twitter with short blasts and shortened url's, but to get the most out of Buzz I believe you need to think about how you share content and expect to have more of a conversation around that content than what we currently trained to do.

I am very interested to see Google's plans with Buzz as the year moves forward and users provide feedback. For educational, enterprise and collaborative purposes I think Buzz is already a very very powerful tool you should start using immediately. For the general user the core behavior and learnings will be beyond insightful and certainly help shape the product moving forward. I hope that tools are created to encourage more sharing/editing/deabte around this longer form sharing in Buzz.

What do you think? Does sharing a lot of longer form content in a Buzz prevent it from integrating well with other social media and sharing sites? Do 5 sentences or more seem to much to cull through in terms of how you want to interact and use Buzz?

Gonna go Tweet this now...