On February 9th, 2010, Google buzz was released. It is a social networking tool and it is integrated into the company’s email program Gmail. It has functionality similar to other social networking services like Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. It allows you to share publicly with the world or privately with a group of friends each time you post. In less than 3 days of its release 9 million posts were made on Buzz about 160,000 posts and comments per hour.
These stats must have put execs at Facebook on alert. Buzz though, is not Google’s first attempt at social networking, the social network Orkut was launched in 2004 but it has seen success only in Brazil and India. What makes Buzz unique and threatening is the leverage Gmail gives it. According to stats from comScore, the number of unique visitors to Gmail was estimated to be 29.6 million in 2008. With Facebook reaching 400 million users recently, Gmail’s popularity is sorely needed to launch Buzz.
Despite its initial success, the service has also got bad press. Some users consider it as another tool to waste time. A user tweeted that his favourite feature of Buzz is the disable link. Buzz has also raised privacy concerns. By default on a user’s Google profile, Buzz publicly discloses a list of the user’s contacts that where frequently emailed or chatted with. I hope Google fixes this issue soon. Is this Google’s answer to the dominance of Facebook and Twitter in the social networking space?
Google has a love-hate relationship with many of the big tech companies. Partnering with them on some projects (OpenSocial) and competing with them on others (Nexus one vs. the iPhone). But the ‘sworn enemy’ of Google is no doubt Facebook. I don’t think these two companies can co-exist in peace. It is therefore of no co-incidence that Buzz supports Twitter and other services but no support for Facebook. With Facebook now the second most popular site on the Web, betting Yahoo to third place and just few places behind Google, The search giant has good reasons to be concerned. I think Facebook would continue its phenomenal growth and probably overtaking Google, but Buzz would slow down this growth and also expect lawsuits from both companies.
The smart thing for Mark Zuckerberg to do now is to venture into the Web mail business that could be the coup de grace for Google. But Google would not go down easy even if Facebook succeeds. The search giant tentacles are too deep in the Web and in popular culture. Another scenario is that a new start-up could emerge that would solve some problems been created now by these social network and compete with both Facebook and Google. This could force the Web’s ‘David and Goliath’ to temporarily bury the hatchet and face a common enemy together. But who can tell the future?
These stats must have put execs at Facebook on alert. Buzz though, is not Google’s first attempt at social networking, the social network Orkut was launched in 2004 but it has seen success only in Brazil and India. What makes Buzz unique and threatening is the leverage Gmail gives it. According to stats from comScore, the number of unique visitors to Gmail was estimated to be 29.6 million in 2008. With Facebook reaching 400 million users recently, Gmail’s popularity is sorely needed to launch Buzz.
Despite its initial success, the service has also got bad press. Some users consider it as another tool to waste time. A user tweeted that his favourite feature of Buzz is the disable link. Buzz has also raised privacy concerns. By default on a user’s Google profile, Buzz publicly discloses a list of the user’s contacts that where frequently emailed or chatted with. I hope Google fixes this issue soon. Is this Google’s answer to the dominance of Facebook and Twitter in the social networking space?
Google has a love-hate relationship with many of the big tech companies. Partnering with them on some projects (OpenSocial) and competing with them on others (Nexus one vs. the iPhone). But the ‘sworn enemy’ of Google is no doubt Facebook. I don’t think these two companies can co-exist in peace. It is therefore of no co-incidence that Buzz supports Twitter and other services but no support for Facebook. With Facebook now the second most popular site on the Web, betting Yahoo to third place and just few places behind Google, The search giant has good reasons to be concerned. I think Facebook would continue its phenomenal growth and probably overtaking Google, but Buzz would slow down this growth and also expect lawsuits from both companies.
The smart thing for Mark Zuckerberg to do now is to venture into the Web mail business that could be the coup de grace for Google. But Google would not go down easy even if Facebook succeeds. The search giant tentacles are too deep in the Web and in popular culture. Another scenario is that a new start-up could emerge that would solve some problems been created now by these social network and compete with both Facebook and Google. This could force the Web’s ‘David and Goliath’ to temporarily bury the hatchet and face a common enemy together. But who can tell the future?
