Thoughts on Google Buzz

Google buzz seems to have the mindshare of the tech community today and for good reason – it is a hard to ignore new addition to many peoples Gmail accounts and causing new conversations and interactions right within a space where many people spend a lot of time – their inbox.

Google has made a very smart move to launch this product within an environment that has such a large mindshare.  They have even slightly revamped the Buzz product due to some early privacy concerns about exposing your contacts you email with when you activate your Buzz account. I have written about this before and feel it is very important to get into someones behavior stream.

There have been some great roundups of what Google Buzz is and what its not, here is one from Jeremiah Owyang.

I think Google launching into such a tech savvy user base makes a ton of sense.  You have a digerati network of early adopters (gmail users) who are slightly more inclined to try something out that essentially gives them more to do and deal with every day.  As Andrew Parker pointed out this has been something heavily tested within Google for the past 6 mos. so getting it exactly right was key.

The most interesting data point for me is that Google created a product that I enjoy, and even my Dad can use.  This should not be seen as a negative thing – rather, it touches both demographics.  I cannot think of another example in the past 6 months where I can actually point to a product or service that he signed up for.  He may understand them, and see the website, but signing up and interacting on a service is a different story altogether.

Another interesting roll out was the update to Google Maps for mobile devices.  You can now seamlessly post Buzz items from your location, and essentially check-in to wherever you are.  Native clients having these features means a larger user base and guaranteed usage.   Looking at a map of the NYC area I was able to see many Buzz bubbles everywhere.  Looking a a more remote location in Canada, I saw activity (that in itself is telling).

Going after and growing a service is about finding networks of opportunity – the now famous example is Facebook going after colleges – and Google has done it with their strongest base which is Gmail users.

Looking forward to seeing what is next for Google Buzz.

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