3 Step Homicide: How Buzz Can Kill Twitter

Posted by schneidermike on Saturday, February 13, 2010 · View Comments 

FriendFeed is the ultimate Social Media communication and aggregation tool and Google recognizes this. Enter Google Buzz 1.0 which is basically a clone. The big advantage over FriendFeed is that it has an instant, enormous audience.

FriendFeed is like fine china. It’s beautiful. It’s elegant. It makes you feel happy to use it, but you rarely do. Google Buzz is like your everyday plates and bowls. At the end of the day, they both do pretty much the same thing, but you use the more ordinary of the two a hell of a lot more often.

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People are taking a serious look at Google Buzz. According to Mashable, Buzz has had over 9 million posts at the time I published this post. People are in test mode. The question is whether or not it will stick. If Google wants to keep the buzz going or even be a buzzkill for Twitter and Facebook, there are 3 key features that will all but guarantee they become the preferred platform

Analytics

Integrate with Google analytics.They could start with “URL shortener style” analytics for each buzz. Engagement metrics are key. Give people an idea of how often and how long people are engaging with Buzz content. Hits over time, sliced by location would get everyone very excited. “Time per Buzz” would also be very cool.

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Mobile Apps

One of FriendFeed’s downfalls was that it had nothing resembling a mobile application. It’s not enough to be able to contribute content through the web browser, people want native apps. Once Buzzdeck, Buzzmic, HootSuite for Buzz and Buzzie hit the iPhone apps store or are downloadable to Blackberry, you can stick a fork in Twitter. Google Buzz launched with an API., so this is most likely around the corner. If you are working on a Google Buzz iPhone application, I would like to talk to you.

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Filter

This feature is also known as the Scoble volume control. Is it me or is that guy noisy? As Google allows more sites like posterous, tumblr, foursquare, gowalla, brightkite, digg, de.licio.us etc to be aggregated, streams will become more Scobley (noisy). Google Buzz allows us to setup groups, which essentially are the same at lists in Twitter, but it would be awesome to be able to filter out content.

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(Did I mention Scoble being noisy? He sure is.)  For instance, lets say I do not care, or it is against my religion, to know what is happening in Twitter. Or lets say that on Tuesdays, all I want to see new blog posts. If Google Buzz would allow me to filter out channels, it would succeed where FriendFeed failed.

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What else would you like to see in Buzz?

Article title by Kevin Long: http://www.longshotsprophoto.com

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  • %@tanclo:

    It's a kind of filter, but it's not enough. Think of the possibilities. First, lets make the comments hidden unless I want to see them.

    Next, let's make it so that you can decide only the types of content you want to see from people in Buzz.

    Next, let's hook Buzz up to everything! Give me options to see any type of content people are pushing and let me decide what I want to talk about.
  • i see @schneidermike point, yes. i'd like to see the most recent two or three comments or as you say, all comments hidden, but see the post. then i'd use the buzz search to find the posts i'd like. I'm hoping there's some intuitive filter acting to learn from my preferences when i hide/like posts
  • When I mute a post, isn't that starting to add a kind of filter?
  • 3 Step Homicide: How Google Buzz Can Kill Twitter - http://bit.ly/9HQ1xK (via @schneidermike)
  • srividya2009
    Another possible differentiation that could have great analytics potential: Content segmentation by audience eg. Sharing of photos with family, Videos with friends, business-related articles with co-workers etc. Especially because Google/Gmail did not start out as a networking platform but as a communications platform. I think I am slowly beginning to appreciate the possibilities of Buzz:-)
  • smccormick
    Hey hey. The flattery just doesn't stop. http://whoaitsseo.com/links.htm
  • Hi Donna! Thanks for your comment.

    I added a photo to the article to illustrate how to send a message to a group. Click PRIVATE -> CREATE NEW GROUP. That said, I think it might be a little misleading I'm actually saying that you can filter content on a group. I have not figured out how to do that yet.
  • I agree about filters in Buzz. But, how do you set up groups in Buzz? (Or is it already on there?)
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