NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Why I'm Using Google Buzz More and Twitter Less
Why I'm Using Google Buzz More and Twitter Less
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000735.html
Greetings. Without any conscious effort to change my patterns of
applications usage, I've noticed of late that I'm using Google Buzz
much more and Twitter considerably less -- this despite the fact that
I'm (for now, anyway) following fewer people (and have far fewer
followers) through Buzz as opposed to Twitter.
A bit of reflection reveals why Buzz seems increasingly useful,
despite the perceived smaller user base.
In a word: Quality. This applies across a number of vectors.
First, and perhaps most obvious -- the 140 character Twitter message
limit, supposedly related to SMS text message considerations in
Twitter's original design, represents an increasing frustration.
Perhaps there is good karma in learning how to become a better
headline writer -- a skill that Twitter certainly tends to foster.
However, getting beyond the fun of shouting headlines, and instead
having some sort of intelligent discussion is extremely difficult
within Twitter constraints.
By not imposing message length limits, Buzz avoids this class of
problems. And its threaded structure, ability to directly display
linked materials, granular privacy controls, and other features
contribute to a far more "intelligent" user experience overall,
capable of supporting genuine discussions in depth.
Buzz has been viewed by the public largely as a direct competitor to
Twitter, but in reality they are significantly different types of
applications. I would place Google Buzz somewhere between Twitter and
a full-blown discussion forum message system -- but without the user
interface baggage that often unnecessarily accompanies the latter --
and with a much cleaner e-mail notification system than either Twitter
or most forums can currently offer.
The Google Buzz launch was famously embroiled in controversy over its
initial default privacy settings related to contacts discovery
(apparently the result of insufficient external testing pre-launch, in
contrast to Google's usually robust external testing regimes). The
related Buzz defaults were indeed somewhat problematic.
However, that being said, the possibility of associated potential
problems related to those defaults were blown way out of proportion by
some observers and the media at large, and to its credit Google moved
within hours to alter the default behaviors in manners that completely
mitigated any realistic concerns, however minor.
Unfortunately, many persons may have been scared off by the
exaggerated reports of Buzz problems, and haven't yet come back to
take a second look.
But it would be well worth their time to do so, especially in light of
the continuing series of incremental fine tuning, new features, and
other aspects of the evolving Buzz service that really do provide Buzz
with far more usefulness overall than Twitter for day-to-day use.
It might be argued that the learning curve for Google Buzz is a bit
steeper than for Twitter, but this is to be expected given Buzz's
power and flexibility compared with Twitter. The intrinsic
relationship between Buzz and Google Profiles -- judging from some
e-mail queries that I receive -- may confuse some users initially, but
this really should not be a significant ongoing problem for most
persons, since Profiles are easy to create and can contain essentially
as much -- or as little -- information as you wish.
No morals or dramatic wrap-ups today. Just a suggestion. If you've
never used Google Buzz, give it a try. If you tried Buzz early on and
stopped due to concerns about the launch or other issues, consider
trying it again now.
My profile and current Buzz activity is open for public access at:
http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz
Hope to see you there.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance):
http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz