Google introduces Google Buzz

Google created quite a stir this week when it introduced a new social networking tool it has dubbed Google Buzz. In a blog post on the Official Google Blog, Todd Jackson, the product manager for GMail and Google Buzz, pointed out that this has been a long time coming as Google has been dabbling in social media for some time.

Google Buzz appears as a link in your GMail sidebar. The idea according to Google is to provide a social interface from within GMail, a tool many people are using already. There is, of course, a mobile version available too, so you can extend your social world to your smart phone. For now, you need to use your browser to access it. As of this morning, there was no specific iPhone App available for Google Buzz, but I expect that will change over time as someone develops one.

As with Google Wave, Google has opened up the code for Google Buzz and eventually, people will build applications on top of the Google Buzz platform, much like people have developed applications like TweetDeck and Hoot Suite for Twitter. I also expect that we will see full integration of Google Buzz in tools like TweetDeck so you can write once and post across your social networks.

It appears that Google Buzz is the social tool for consumers while Google Wave would be the social collaboration tool for the enterprise. It's unclear if these tools would overlap or even combine at some point, but for now, Google Buzz represents Google's foray into the consumer social market. It will be interesting to see if they can unseat any of the usual suspects like Facebook or Twitter moving forward or if they will simply partner with these companies to create a bigger social ecosystem.

For more information:
- see the Official Google Blog post

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