Buzz Inbox | Arstechnica
Google recently released it’s latest microblogging/aggregation tool “Buzz”. Buzz is essentially an extension of Gmail. A poorly designed extension if you ask me. It’s not a Facebook or Twitter competitor; it’s an aggregator much like FriendFeed.
Buzz is contained within Gmail. A Buzz link is located under the Inbox link. Buzz streams threaded conversations of fellow buzzers you have designated to follow. Unlike Google Wave Buzz conversations are not real-time. Like Gmail you have to refresh to get the latest Buzz additions.
Buzz integrates a few popular microblogging features into the Buzz window. Similar to FriendFeed you can have Flickr, Google Reader, Picasa, Twitter and You Tube content stream into Buzz.
Other than the extremely lame look and feel of Buzz there are a few issues worth noting. Streams are sorted by recent activity. I find this sorting strange and frustrating. At the current time there is no apparent option to change the sort. Posting content is easy; choosing the privacy settings is unambiguous at best. Public, Private make up the posting privacy settings. If you choose private you then must select a Gmail group. Not great…
At the current time Google Buzz does not bring anything new to the microblogging/aggregation game. Disappointing and pointless really!