Google Buzz Vs. Facebook

On Feb 9th Google launched Buzz. After playing with it over the last 2 weeks it seems to begin to get closer to the Facebook message functionality. It also uses @ like twitter to make connecting easier.

Word on the street is that Facebook is architecting it's messaging section of their site from the ground up and turning it into a Web-mail app. This news puts Facebook into direct competition with the likes of Gmail and MSN.

Who will be more powerful?
Google who is extending into the social platform / software space. Facebook the social platform / software of choice for millions globally. Or can MSN extend their functional prowess to more of a social platform?

Comments

[referencement]

i think that facebook will be more powerful

[Joanna Pena-Bickley]

@referencement, Why?

[Tkennon]

With Buzz Google makes a decent stab @ owning a piece of the lifestreaming business that Facebook, Twitter - and my favorite still, FriendFeed - have initially cornered various pieces of across the social media ecosystem.

But here are four big problems/challenges I see, after playing with it since it launched nearly 2 weeks ago.

First, are the privacy issues, and they launched it, apparently, WAY before they had thought thru these. The default settings (and they have beens scrambling to correct since launch) could expose not only the email contacts of those following you, but also your own email address. And this, of course, is exposed to the Google search index, making you very public, all of a sudden, with zero permission.

Second is the closed nature of the system itself. You must have a Gmail account to access Buzz. Now, I know almost everybody WE know has a Gmail account, it isn't quite universal yet.

Thirdly, is the noise. If you're used to Twitter and it's powerful 'lists' feature or FriendFeed and it's incredibly smart threaded, nesting feature (and groups) or even just Facebook's feed with collapsible threads and filtering now by 'Top' and 'Recent' feeds, you will be stunned by the awkward, run-on "noisiness" of your streams within Buzz.

And finally, its all about syndication. A growing number of social users post to our stream thru a single client (e.g. Twitter, FriendFeed, Tweetdeck, Facebook)and our feeds are selectively 'fed' thru the universe of our streams. Buzz doesn't yet support this, as above re it's still relatively closed system approach. It's all about "open" baby and regardless of their lip service, Google cares about selling ads a lot more than it cares about being open.

To this final point, Google is obviously extending & expanding its impression base for Ad Words and this, esp with its amplifier affect within Gmail, is a smart business move for the advertising giant.

But as a user, you will need to ask yourself whether checking another "in box" 30-50 times a day is a personal social media investment worth the return.
For me, so far, the answer remains not so much.

Here's a decent sampling of the opinions from the digiscenti on FF...

http://friendfeed.com/search?q=buzz&start=30

[Joanna Pena-Bickley]

@ Tkennon I am a fan of friend feed as well. I ponder if they have the audience share to compete directly with Google, Facebook or MSN. You bring up some interesting privacy issues. when is it too private? Social Media is where the message and the medium collide. Most people (mainly GenY) using social media choose to expose everything they are doing and where they are doing it. Google's functions seem to facilitate that behavior trend. As I look at Google Buzz it’s basically a more powerful version of Twitter integrated into Gmail. Seems like a less obtuse version of Google Wave.

This year Facebook and Google, whether it’s e-mail, lifecasting, seem to be gearing up for a battle to own the messages in our lives. Both companies have advantages. Google’s has hardware (i.e., Nexus) and software (i.e., Android, Chrome OS) that takes their messaging experience beyond the desktop. Facebook has the social platform/software, they are cross platform on over 300 phone models and it has the larger user base. I think they are reporting more than 300MM+ users.

I am not sure where that leaves Microsoft. real social is about transparency and OPEN platforms. This has not been a strength in the past. However, I think the Windows 7 Phone [http://joannapenabickley.typepad.com/on/2010/02/on-windows-7-phone.html] shows a new side of Microsoft. If any company had the technical prowess and money to create an eco-system from the ground up they could. Time will tell if they can move to a truly open platform that can work across any device (tv, game console, computer and phone).

If I were a betting woman I'd put my money on Facebook. Facebook is truly an open platform, it is device agnostic. (i can get it on my TV, game console, computer and phone) It does not have to worry about the costs of hardware which has become a commodity, and emotionally it has become a brand that connects hundreds of millions of people across the planet.

[sasha]

I think we also need to take the user mindset into account. Many users don’t use Gmail the same way they use Facebook, and I’m not convinced that they’re all going to want to...

The sheer volume of communications these days demands focus and speed. People switch back and forth between email and other applications all day long. They use it for work. To coordinate paying bills. To help accomplish tasks.

And in that context, Gmail is a near-perfect application. It’s super fast, the search is seamless, threaded emails allow you to quickly decide what to read first, your calendar is one click away, labels allow you to organize things seamlessly, Google Labs allows the program to grow and change over time, chat & Buzz are integrated, but can be turned off.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook, but I don’t want to work there. It’s too integrated. Too “fun”. Too distracting. And quite frankly, I don’t think they have the technical or interface chops to compete with Google on any serious functionality level.