Google Buzz: Is There Really No Room For It?

The recent launch of Google Buzz has created quite a hoopla. Within days the usage of the service skyrocketed, and many websites (especially those focused on social networking) had implemented Google Buzz "share buttons" alongside the now-familiar Facebook and Twitter buttons. The main focus of many Google Buzz-related posts on these and other blogs has been the question, "How useful is Google Buzz in light of the services most of us already use?" It's a question mirrored and discussed by readers of these sites, and anyone else who has a Gmail account. I'm one of the countless people who have been pondering this question, and I'm going to address it now.

I have a Twitter page and a Facebook profile, I share via StumbleUpon, MyLikes, Gdgt, and several other Social Bookmarking/sharing sites. But I also use several Google services, like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, etc. I could take up the reasoning of those who say, "Aargh! I don't need one more social bookmarking service...I'm not using it." This has the tone of a child petulantly exclaiming, "I'm taking my marbles and going home!" But I'm asking, "Why not?" From my position, what's the big deal with utilizing a service that's already integrated with my Gmail, and connects easily to my Google Reader, and even this very Blogger site? Not that I've actually gotten around to hooking it up yet, but that's a different issue.

It seems to me there's a sense of disappointment that Google didn't come up with Google Buzz earlier in the social bookmarking game, which somehow gets translated (albeit poorly) into viewing the service as less than useful. The fact that the user-adoption of Google Buzz has quickly grown kind of makes that a moot point, in my opinion. If it's really not very useful, someone needs to send the memo to all the people who decided to give it a try, and who apparently enjoy using it.

Maybe you're one of the folks who balked at how Google Buzz launched with its privacy control missing, which allowed your followers to see your Gmail address, and addresses of others you're connected to. Okay, but they've fixed that. Now the only people you're connected to on Google Buzz who can see your Gmail address are the ones who already know it.

Another good reason to get your Google Buzz rolling is visibility (for those of you who like to maintain it and even increase it). There are undoubtedly a few people in your Gmail contacts list who aren't on Twitter or even Facebook. Share with them. For anyone with an interest in using Search Engine Optimization to develop your web presence, adding Google Buzz to your arsenal can only be a plus.

The only other issue I see right now is for the folks who have a Google Profile and/or use Google Reader and wish to disable Google Buzz, since it's opt-in by default. Currently, killing your Google Buzz means deleting your Google Profile and Google Reader. I can see how that would be adding insult to injury, and Google should make it possible to disable Google Buzz without affecting your other Google services.

In the end, you're going to do what you want. I just think that anyone with more than marginal interest in Internet and communication should at least be giving Google Buzz a solid try before dismissing it.

For those who don't have a Gmail account and/or aren't familiar with Google Buzz, here's a helpful info page over at Google.

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Gdgt: Social Networking Niche Website Focused On Gadget Lust

With the exponentially increasing popularity of social bookmarking websites, it was inevitable that we would begin to see specialization of focus. Oh, sure...we all know about Digg, StumbleUpon, and countless other sites that connect people based on their attraction to a news item or a new product. The emerging trend now is websites that target a specific market, making those connections with like-minded folks a bit more profound and probably longer-lasting. And, it's no surprise that the niche market for the sites that are paving the way would be tech-oriented. After all, it's the technology-related areas of life that drive innovation.

One such site I discovered recently is Gdgt. The "disemvoweled" name might make you think this site is small-time, but it's actually got a lot going on. It's social networking for people who love their gadgets; the devices they have, the ones they drool over, and even the ones they had. Founded back in July of this year by Ryan Block and Peter Rojas (both from Engadget, among other endeavors), Gdgt has grown in just a few short months to catalogue tens of thousands of gadgets, tech-related definitions, and the people who love and use them.

Once you sign up and create a profile, you can get started. Using the simple menu at the top, you can browse popular gadgets to find yours, or you can get there quicker by using the "Finder," that asks you for specifics about the gadget, then displays the possible matches. When you find the device you're looking for, you can add it to your "Have" list, your "Want" list, or your "Had" list (which I think is a cool feature, as it shows your gadget history). If you don't find the exact gadget you're looking for, you are allowed to "Add New," as long as you're prepared to fill out a detailed specs form and provide a good picture of the gadget. If you do create a new entry, it won't show up right away, because the folks at the Gdgt site need to approve your entry. I myself added an entry for a Samsung SPH-A700 Sprint phone I used to have (seen in photo at right), and it was approved overnight.

So, now you've filled out your profile's gadget list...now what? Well, you can give ratings to your gadgets, for one thing. You could also try starting or joining specific gadget discussions from that gadget's page or clicking the "discuss" tab on the main menu for current popular discussions. And of course, don't forget the social aspect of Gdgt; connecting to people. On a gadget's info page is a list of folks who want it, have it, or had it...check those folks out and add them as friends.

If you love your cell phone, smart phone, portable media player, or other favorite device, Head over to Gdgt's website to start sharing your gadget lust.

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Twitter Desktop Clients: My Current Pick and a Few Others

I've mentioned before that I use Digsby for my IM, email, and some social networking updates. One of those was Twitter. But when Digsby recently updated Twitter functionality, the relatively low RAM on my laptop couldn't keep up and slowed Digsby's Twitter response time to a snail's pace. It was then that I had to consider turning to one of several Twitter desktop clients I'd heard of. There are quite a few of them out there; some are very popular, some are almost well-guarded secrets. And most of them are available for the common Windows, Mac, and Linux Operating Systems.

After some consideration and my common practice of reading reviews, watching how-to videos on YouTube, etc...I chose Twhirl. This Twitter desktop client is run by the folks at Seesmic, who gave us Seesmic Desktop. It installs quickly and cleanly, even if it finds that you don't already have Adobe Air installed on your computer (a required installation) and has to include this. Twhirl is a great proprietary Twitter desktop client; it's easy on the RAM, has an intuitive user interface, and lets you run more than one Twitter account if you so desire. Twhirl does let you tweak your settings for updates, languages, and appearance so you can customize it to your liking. If you want to check it out, here's the Twhirl main page.

For a desktop client that does more than just Twitter, consider TweetDeck. I have not actually used this one yet, just because all my other updates come to me via Digsby, but I've watched several demos of TweetDeck, and I'm very tempted to give it a try. TweetDeck will run Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace updates, conversations, and other interactive functions in a multi-column user interface. Like Twhirl, it needs you to have Adobe Air installed, but the information I've gathered shows that installation is snappy. The main attraction of TweetDeck is those columns and the latitude it gives you to customize them. Of course, the settings and appearance are not left out of the personalization loop either. TweetDeck is still in Beta, but all reports are that it's running more like a final release. If you haven't already, I suggest you head over to TweetDeck for an eyeful.

If you want to check out a few other Twitter desktop clients, all of which will require Adobe Air as a platform, here you go...knock yourself out:
Seesmic (desktop, web browser, or iPhone)
Spaz (for mobile or desktop)
DestroyTwitter (still in Beta)

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Google Wave Will Be More Like a Tsunami

Google's many development teams have given us some great stuff through the years. Google Search, Blogger, Gmail, and their recent acquisition of YouTube are just some of the highlights of how this tech powerhouse in Mountain View, CA drives us to increase the potential of what we can do with the internet.
Hold on to your hats, because later this year Google is going to release to the masses a communications platform so dynamic and powerful that some people are already throwing around the term "e-mail killer."
I'm talking about Google Wave. It's a first-of-its-kind internet communication protocol that will allow you to communicate with friends, co-workers, family or anyone in a more advanced way than e-mail or even instant messaging can support. In fact, this new platform is sort of what you'd get if you mixed e-mail, instant messaging and microblogging (like Twitter) and served them up in a bulletin board/chat room.
You can use it to share photos or videos with friends, and everyone is able to respond in near-instantaneous real-time with replies,comments, tagging, etc...all at the same time. Co-workers can collaborate on projects the same way; everyone has a hand in creating and revising the project moment-by-moment, with the ability to see every step of the developing project, who made which changes, and have multiple conversations about it.
In short, this is going to be revolutionary in much the same way that cell phones, e-mail or instant messaging were when they first became popular with the general public. Not many of us saw much of a use for those beforehand, and now we don't want to do without them because they changed the way we communicate.
The best part of this is that it isn't proprietary. Google is not sitting on this protocol. From the beginning of their development of Google Wave back in late 2007/early 2008, they've designed it to be Open Source. This will allow other companies (like Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, Mozilla, etc) to create a Wave service or client and develop plug-ins and applications for it.
It's still in development currently, meaning that average users won't see it for several months. Meanwhile, if you want to know more, hit the highlighted link a few paragraphs back...or watch Google Wave Developer Preview over at YouTube. It's 1 hour, 20 minutes in length, so if you don't have time now, just bookmark it for later. Also, don't let the title scare you away...it was recorded at Google's Developer conference for tech geeks, but there's plenty of simple explanation for the rest of us.

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Likaholix: A Whole Lot of Liking Going On

Are you ready for a new kind of networking where you connect based on things you like?  It's called Likaholix, and it's becoming quite popular because most of us like to talk about the things we like.

Once you've registered (natch) you're ready to jump in.  First, you use the search box to find something you like.  It can be anything; books, movies, gadgets, furnishings, clothing, cars, whatever.  If you find the item is already liked by someone, you simply click a button that says "like this," fill in a comment about why you like it, and you're done.  You might also find that you are the first person to like an item.  If that's the case, you choose pictures and/or videos to represent the item on its listing page, make your comment, and create tags for it.

But wait, there's more!  There are other things you can do once you've got a few likes under your belt.  There are a lot of other people liking things on Likaholix too, and some of them like the things you like.  Guess what?  You can like the people who like the things you like.  You can even like the tags.  With all this liking going on, it's still possible to get stuck, so there is a recommendations button that comes up with some pretty good suggestions.

Likaholix also lets you share your likes on Facebook, Twitter, and Friendfeed...so you can expand your likes out into your web universe.  There's also a "status-centric" feature for those who have built up a reasonable stash of likes:  You can become a "tastemaker" when you have at least ten likes in a given topic, though you're limited to two separate topics for Tastemaker status.

If you like the idea of liking and being liked by others who like things...click on over to Likaholix now and start sharing. 

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True To Form as a "Late Adopter," I Finally Joined Twitter: My Education and Thoughts

I joined Twitter Yesterday, and after finally taking the plunge I'm very glad I did.  

I put it off for so long because I didn't think it would be useful for me; I thought it's just a bunch of people posting inane updates that no one cares about.  Wrong.  Oh, there are plenty of people using it to keep others updated on the minutiae of their daily lives, but there are also many people using it as a powerful networking and information tool.

If you're not familiar with the workings, I'll give you the basics as I, a quick-study novice, understand them.

Twitter is what's known as a Microblogging service.  Once you set up an account and make your profile over the way you like it, you're ready to start finding people and letting them find you.  Aside from the folks whom you know as Twitter users, you're likely to find friends and acquaintances whose presence on the site surprises you.

Using Twitter's simple search tool, you should be able to find the people you want to connect to by their full name or Twitter username.  If that doesn't yield the desired results, you might send emails to folks you know, inviting them to connect to you.  

When you connect to someone on Twitter, it's called Following, and it's a 50/50 decision.  That means when you click to follow someone, they have the option of following you back or blocking you.  Following someone allows you to receive their updates on your Twitter home page.

Every update you post (limited to 140 characters) is called a Tweet, and the action of posting is referred to as Tweeting, though I've heard others call it Twittering.  There's a special kind of tweet known as @reply which allows you to publicly reply to someone's tweet.  This is done by beginning your reply tweet with @username, of course using the person's real username. 

There's also a direct messaging feature on Twitter which is only a two-way communication between people who are following each other; other than that it's one-way in the direction of the follower (meaning a follower cannot reply via direct message unless you follow them too).

Though I've only been with Twitter for a day, I'd like to give a little advice.  If you want to use it just to keep up with friends, follow celebrity gossip or popular current events, go crazy, follow as many people as you want.  If you want to use it as more of a business or semi/professional networking tool, use common sense when deciding who to follow, who to follow back, and who to block.  Twitter is not devoid of spam, and the more caution you use with your networking (even if it is just social) the better off and less annoyed you'll be.

By the way, you can follow me at twitter.com/jdsheline.

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