Google Buzz is About Protecting GMail's Ad Dollars, Not Social Networking

One of my chief issues with Google Buzz is that there's no "there." Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc all have destination sites or apps that allow the user to mentally switch contexts from one-to-one/one-to-few communication to one-to-many. Mike Elgan touches on this here. 

This got me wondering: why didn't Google build a hub for Buzz to begin with? I suspect the reason is simple. With Buzz, Google isn't trying to create a new social network. Rather, it's trying to sure up GMail - a major source of ad revenues - from the forthcoming Facebook onslaught. 

Even though Gmail has hundreds of millions of users, they actually have much to fear. The enemy is Facebook. With its integrated chat, Facebook Connect and its forthcoming full-featured mail product, Titan, the social network giant has a good shot at syphoning users from Gmail just as Google did to Yahoo Mail and Hotmail half a decade ago. Ponder that.

In addition, here are some of my other thoughts on Google Buzz...

• After playing with it for a few days, there's definitely a lot I like. I still don't see it going mainstream - especially given the privacy kerfuffle. This will only scare mainstream users. However, that said, I bet Buzz will become an important niche player for enthusiasts much like Friendfeed was during its heyday. What's more it will encourage everyone else to up their game. 

• Yesterday on Buzz I outlined 20 ways it can improve. The product team, notably Bradley Horowitz, chimed in and said they are taking all feedback seriously. This weekend's privacy tweaks back up words with action. What else are we missing?

• Finally, tips are rolling in around the web. The Next Web and Google Operating System blogs have great tip round-ups. Most notably Google Operating System details how you can search all public updates, even people you're not following (#8). They also reveal how to save these as persistent searches (#9). As you can see from the screen grab below, this is a really handy way to search social content from within Gmail.

Comments

[Alastair Sloan]

i think Google's best strategy here is to concentrate on providing a framework to integrate the information and updates coming from various social networks into one feed- with buzz as the entry point. there are too many social technologies to keep track of right now, and if google can organise the social space as ingeniously as they organised the information space, they're onto another winner.they mentioned this at their launch event but it seems this aspect has been lost in the implementation of buzz, also in the perception from the public.

[Dheeraj]

Well another reason for google not creating a separate portal or social netowrking website is that.....well it already has one..!! People forget but..Orkut is now owned by Google...though mainly used in Brazil and India...

[Erica Glasier]

Google has a large user base of over 100 million already coming to a centralized "location" to do a task (use their email). Why not capitalize and insert sociability into that preexisting group? Google must have realized that in building yet another destination, they'd be fighting the group inertia people have already invested in Facebook. Users didn't need another hub, and there have been embarrassing hub failures in the past. Buzz could be allowed to build without the risk of trying to invite more people to the party.

[Dheeraj]

Yeah...actually ur right...But then yeah, it has become a success...because there are so many users of gmail, Gmail Buzz (especially with the intro page) is bound to be popular.

[Mike Stenger]

Very interesting theory Steve, never even thought about that. However, with them not creating hub or having it accessible through another client, kind of leans towards exactly that.Google Buzz does have some good things going for it but at this stage, much of it needs work on. Hopefully they really are taking feedback seriously and listen to the users, not what just what they think needs changed.

[John Vasko]

Steve, I agree with you wholeheartedly. We'll see how it evolves.

[John Lazzaro]

I don't believe Google has ever disclosed its ad incomefrom gmail, or if "free gmail" is profitable stand-alone.I have a hard time believing the ads shown duringreading mail are a significant source of income for google,since unlike the ads shown during search, you are not lookingto immediately go to another site when you are reading mail.

[afhill]

>why didn't Google build a hub for Buzz to begin with?isn't that really what Google Wave was? The feature doesn't offer enough benefits to justify a separate property.

[Warren Whitlock]

of course Buzz won't be mainstream as it stands today. Google will keep improving it till they have something to keep us all in our IN box where the ads are

[James]

I think this gives every professional a reason not to ever use Google services ever again. I mean sure, you could sign up for a paid version and avoid being a guinea pig, but that sort of information will be lost with the "trendy" social media word of mouth news aggregation.If anything this product launch has said one thing and one thing only. Google does not respect you as a user and they will never take your privacy seriously. This is the worst move Google has ever made. Even the uber fanboys will see through this. Jmo...But to stay on track. Yes I agree, this product launch was a means to leverage an existing contact database to strengthen the userbase of another. It's anybodies guess at to whether or not it will die off like Wave, Open Social, Friends Connect, Orkut (with the exception of South America), ect...Maybe they will go standalone? I don't think they really know what to do and are waiting for the general public to voice thier opinion. By then it will be too late. Again jmo...

[Marshall]

Can't it be about social networking and ad dollars? Arguably, it's potentially capturing a part of your network that's not on Facebook or Twitter, with features that are super easy to grasp (if borrowed from Friendfeed).But yeah, it's Google, so of course it's about ad dollars. So what? That's their business. Nothing too surprising or upsetting there. Doesn't Facebook sell ads? Is Twitter not interested in making money?Finally, I'll not that Google already created a separate hub with advanced features. It's called Wave. And everyone ignored it. Not a few people blamed Google for bone-headedly choosing that option instead of integrating the new product with e-mail.

[Dheeraj]

Um...You all are asking why google didn't create a separate hub. Trust me, they actually didnt plan to do it for Wave too, as they had Orkut (www.orkut.com), Google's Owned Social Networking Hub. WHen they implemented Google Wave 1)It still is invitation based 2)They publicized it as a portal to collaborate and communicate, Like email, chat, and work all together. Now their third try lies in Buzz, which we could consider solely fr the purpose of ad dollars, considering the fact that it has Google Talk, Orkut, Google Wave...etc..

[tanya singh]

I like google services, whether are paid, whether are free. When someone give services like google, he has right to do everything to get money back.

[Charanjit Singh]

Refreshing perspective Steve. I think you're right in that Buzz is not ready for the mainstream yet and Google is just making sure they have a ready defence to FB's onslaught. Nevertheless - I believe Google will very quickly learn from its mistakes (as we've seen this last week) and ease the billions of Gmail users into Buzz. Lets hope FB doesn't out-maneuver it in that time.

[Michelle Bauer]

I love google services as well. Google has been very helpful not only with my studies but as well with my business. Google really rocks!

[Owen Richard Kindig]

Thanks for reviewing Buzz soberly without a lot of drama. This sort of info is useful, pragmatic, and actionable. Another blogger shouted, "Is Google the new Microsoft?"... more heat than light on the topic, it seems to me.