Google Buzz: Parlez-vous Privacy?
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 7:00 am
As with Wave, Buzz was greeted with a fair amount of buzz (OK, that was too easy) upon release. Some were already dubbing it the “Twitter killer” as Google was looking to leverage its considerable Gmail user base by integrating the new product directly within their email client. This would allow users to post updates visible to anyone in their Gmail contact list, directly from their Gmail page. In addition to the convenience of not having to change windows/tabs, Google enabled auto-following between a user and all his/her Gmail contacts, public and private sharing (which meant your posts would be indexed and thus Googleable) and a customized recommendation system uganda whatsapp number database for access to only the most relevant updates. All in all, it seemed the search giant had finally hit a social home run, and initial numbers posted on the official Gmail blog seemed to confirm it. Within 56 hours Buzz already had over 9 million posts and comments, which represents more than 160,000 comments and posts per hour.
Google however, neglected one vital aspect that would eventually bring about the demise of its newborn product: privacy. As soon as Buzz was announced, and even prior to launch, industry experts started pointing out the various breaches of user information that the company’s decision to automatically opt in its customer base, had caused. Chief among these complaints and considered the biggest privacy flaw was the public disclosure of the names of all Gmail contacts on a given user’s Google profile. After being hit with various lawsuits and settling a few of them, as well as being investigated by the FTC, Google decided to shut down its Buzz service a little over two years after its inception.
3. Google+: Is This Thing On?
By launching its own social network, pitting itself in direct competition with Facebook and its already built-in user base of 500 million-plus (at time of launch), Google knew it was taking a big gamble. So, when they officially announced the launch of Google+, it was immediately met with skepticism, fueled undoubtedly by the company’s recent history with failed social products. Features such as Circles (a fancy term for lists) or Hangouts (a glorified chat) didn’t do much to help the matter. When asked whether he felt threatened on the Charlie Rose show, Mark Zuckerberg said Google was just “trying to build their own little version of Facebook” (even though he eventually got on it too).
Fast-forward to over a year later, and the jury is still out as to whether Google+ is a success. Some still believe in its potential, believing it’s only a matter of time before the social network truly takes off. But when faced with the hard, cold truth, we can only note that there just isn’t much going on there right now. People from within the company itself seem to have lost faith as well, as illustrated by Steve Yegge’s infamous rant. Instead of a list of raw numbers, here’s a nice little infographic (courtesy of Umpf) to prove my point:
Google however, neglected one vital aspect that would eventually bring about the demise of its newborn product: privacy. As soon as Buzz was announced, and even prior to launch, industry experts started pointing out the various breaches of user information that the company’s decision to automatically opt in its customer base, had caused. Chief among these complaints and considered the biggest privacy flaw was the public disclosure of the names of all Gmail contacts on a given user’s Google profile. After being hit with various lawsuits and settling a few of them, as well as being investigated by the FTC, Google decided to shut down its Buzz service a little over two years after its inception.
3. Google+: Is This Thing On?
By launching its own social network, pitting itself in direct competition with Facebook and its already built-in user base of 500 million-plus (at time of launch), Google knew it was taking a big gamble. So, when they officially announced the launch of Google+, it was immediately met with skepticism, fueled undoubtedly by the company’s recent history with failed social products. Features such as Circles (a fancy term for lists) or Hangouts (a glorified chat) didn’t do much to help the matter. When asked whether he felt threatened on the Charlie Rose show, Mark Zuckerberg said Google was just “trying to build their own little version of Facebook” (even though he eventually got on it too).
Fast-forward to over a year later, and the jury is still out as to whether Google+ is a success. Some still believe in its potential, believing it’s only a matter of time before the social network truly takes off. But when faced with the hard, cold truth, we can only note that there just isn’t much going on there right now. People from within the company itself seem to have lost faith as well, as illustrated by Steve Yegge’s infamous rant. Instead of a list of raw numbers, here’s a nice little infographic (courtesy of Umpf) to prove my point: