February 23, 2010 by Andy Russell
Google have announced that they are going to use their Gmail service to take on Twitter by adding a ‘status update’ capability to it. Much like the popular social networking site Twitter, Google is attempting to provide the ever increasing users of their e-mailing service with the ability to give up to the minute updates on whatever it is they are doing in their lives at the precise moment.
The service will be known as Google Buzz and it has already been added to the Gmail service. As well as being able to share status updates users will be able to share web links, videos and photos with their friends, which sounds very much like an amalgamation of both Facebook and Twitter services.
During the course of this week, Gmail users will be able to see a tab labelled “Buzz” appearing under their inbox. Any contacts already stored will be added to an “auto follow” list meaning that without even a click of the mouse users will already be ‘following’ their contacts.
Google Buzz product manager Todd Jackson has described the service as “like an entirely new world inside of Gmail.” The service has indeed appeared to have made the experience of checking an email slightly more entertaining, but for people already on Twitter or people that wish to stay well clear of any such service it may be somewhat of a hindrance.
The question will surely be asked, what does Google Buzz offer that Twitter doesn’t? Well Todd Jackson explained that they had listened to the complaints made by users of other similar sites and acted accordingly whilst creating Buzz.
You are able to post items publicly or choose whether you want the entire world to see them, it is also apparently much easier to share privately and to post to custom groups.
It would seem that Google are not happy having the most popular search engine on the internet or the most popular map/globe viewing program they are evidently intent on taking on the social networking giants and it will be interesting to see how they fair.
Buzz will also be available on Google’s android phones and iPhones.
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