It’s probably evident to anyone who has used Google Buzz that it wasn’t quite ready for launch when the company rolled it out several weeks ago. In addition to the privacy concerns that had many people involved with social media marketing were voicing, there were also a number of usability issues regarding the importing of tweets and FriendFeed messages that still needed to be ironed out as well. Buzz was collecting streams from the other media sites, and displaying them on Buzz in intervals that were sometimes separated by hours. This meant that users’ Buzz streams would suddenly be flooded with messages, making the experience of using it extremely frustrating.
This then, raises the question of why Google would choose to not just roll out the service so soon, but essentially force it upon the 175 million Gmail users with little to no advance notice. There are three theories that may explain their decision:
- Google has made no secret of its desire to purchase Twitter. There’s a chance that, by making Buzz almost ubiquitous among the vast amount of Gmail users, Google may be trying to force Twitter’s hand and bring them back to the discussion table. As the search giant made abundantly clear, they wanted everyone to know about Buzz. Unlike other new services Google rolls out, Buzz was given its own announcement page rather than being an option through Google Labs. Assuming this helps the adoption rate of Buzz, it certainly gives Google a rather large bargaining chip to use against Twitter.
- But Twitter aside, Buzz also gives Google its own real-time micro-messaging system of communication. It makes it more simple to broadcast messages to your preexisting contacts than email, thus adding another degree of usefulness to the Gmail service. Public messages can be fed through Buzz, while private ones remain transmitted through Gchat or email.
- And finally, establishing a social network was important for Google because, as the company surely realizes, links passed through social media are slowly beginning to drive almost as much traffic as search does. What makes Google so powerful is that they are easily the largest driver of traffic to a number of sites. By attempting to establish Buzz as a legitimate contender to Facebook and Twitter streams, the company could be simply trying to reaffirm the position they hold in that regard.
The growth of Twitter and Facebook have shown that it was essential for Google to make its own splash in the social media pool. The only thing that remains to be seen is whether they can iron out the kinks and build Buzz into something that makes it worth using.
Written by Kenny K.