Google rolled out its newest social networking application last month with a catchy name and tens of millions of built-in users, but at Boston University’s campus and online, students said they were not feeling buzzed.
Even with more than 9 million of those users visiting the new application through Gmail, according to the company, Google Buzz’s attempt to upend the social networking universe still fell flat next to the reigning online network, Facebook.
“Google Buzz focuses on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don’t have to use different tools to share with different audiences),” a Google representative wrote on the Official Google Blog after the product’s launch.
CNET’s Josh Lowensohn and Rafe Needleman were less enthusiastic about the idea in a Feb. 9 review, calling Google Buzz “yet another social communication system aimed at an audience that’s already deluged with communications methods and networks.”
Google’s application mirrors Facebook’s “news feed” application but pulls its contacts from Gmail. Users can see other users they have frequently emailed posting GChat statuses, uploading photos and using other Google services, all on one site.
The web company attracted mounting criticism online, however, after Gmail users complained the choice to opt-out of the service was not prominent enough. Google updated the option four days later.
“We’ve heard your feedback loud and clear,” the company said in a Feb. 14 blog post.
Andrew Oliver, a School of Law junior, said Google Buzz made a mistake by not disclosing the information it uses to aggregate users’ online statuses before they are automatically signed on to the service.
“I don’t use it,” he said. “But I do think it needs to more clearly delineate its rules.”
Other students said they are fans of Gmail but found Google Buzz’s similarity to Facebook diminished, if not entirely extinguished, its appeal.
“Everybody already uses Facebook, so there’s nothing revolutionary about Google Buzz,” said School of Management freshman Samuel Weisman.
“I would be interested if it was differentiated from Facebook,” said SMG junior Abhinav Ananta. “There are already so many social networking devices that are pretty much the same, I’d feel like it would be overload.”
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior Stephen Iacono said because Buzz is so similar to other sites, he would only use it if more people switched over from Facebook.
“I joined it, but only three of my friends have, so I don’t really use it to interact with people,” said College of Communication senior Lorraine Jonemann. “It’s kind of lame.”
“I think Google rushed into this new thing to get people back from Facebook and Twitter, but it was a little too hasty,” said SMG junior Steve Ha. “It doesn’t have the security measures necessary yet. But I think it’ll take off eventually.”
Alison Huggins, a Sargent College junior, said Google Buzz could still succeed if it tailored itself to a particular audience, as other social networking apps have.
“I feel like MySpace was mainly for high school kids and people who didn’t go to college, then Facebook was for college kids, so if Google Buzz finds its own niche, then it could attract more of a crowd,” she said.
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