What’s the buzz on Google Buzz?

In case you have not heard, Google announced a new social networking tool called Buzz. Of course, I immediately thought of Drew Carey’s Buzz Beer. and then thought of an awesome local brew, Joe Coffee Porter.  But I digress…

Google Buzz is Google’s answer to social networking phenom, Facebook.  Now as some of you know, I am an avid Facebook user.  So much so, that even my dog has his own Facebook page and started a Facebook group called “stuffmydogsays”.  So I was excited to see what the buzz was about Buzz.

The key selling point for me is that all of my Google stuff is in one place.  I keep a lot of my pics on Picasa, use G-Mail, Google Docs, Google Wave, etc.  The fact that everything is now available in one property is very appealing.  Conversations show up in real-time and notifications are already part of G-mail, so no need to switch properties when you are Buzzing.  But from what I have seen, they still have some work to do.  It is not ready for prime time.

Here is where, IMHO, Buzz misses the mark.  One huge complaint that Facebook users have is the lack of a “dislike” button.  Buzz copied FB and offers a “like” function, but no “dislike”.  I also do not see integration with third-party entertainment that FB offers.  Games like Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc.   I cannot stand these games and hated the updates that showed up in my feed (I have since figured out how to “ignore” them).  But I am in the minority here.  Other folks spend as much (or more) time on Zynga games as they do writing or checking updates on Facebook.  It think this is where they are going to take a hit on adoption by the general public.

It looks like Google is trying to salvage some of the development work that went into Wave.  I thought Wave would have been the next killer app, but sadly Wave seems to have crashed on the beach.  Glad to see some of the technology is being re-purposed in Buzz.  If the boys and girls at Google want to get massive adoption of Buzz, they need to do a better job marketing the app.  As my dear friend John Zissimos said regarding Google’s Super Bowl ad, “It’s about time the company that’s made billions on selling advertising actually ran an ad”.

What are your thoughts on Buzz?  Would you leave Facebook for Buzz or use both?

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