Twitter has emerged as the most user friendly social media site. However, with simplicity often comes lack of functionality. For example, you cannot format or extend text beyond 140 characters. It doesn't seem to bother many people and API's are being developed to overcome this obstacle.
Google's recent release of Buzz was an attempt to take the concept of Twitter and enhance it, while also combining some features found of Facebook. But is bigger always better? Has Google received the positive "Buzz" it really needs to sustain a strong user base?
That is the question that New York Times article "Google Message Features Move Beyond Twitter," explores. The article brings up the privacy issue that surrounded Google a few weeks back with the Chinese Hackers. Google Buzz will only be able to be used by an individual who has a gmail account. Therefore, based on one's buzz, Google will be able to determine which messages in your inbox are more and less relevant for ones viewing. This sounds great on the surface, but a problem if an email deemed less relevant is important for the users viewing. In addition, buzz only has functionality to integrate twitter tweets into their system but not vice versa.
Trying to navigate buzz is also a challenge, even for me. And I continue to wonder if bigger is always better, or if the market place will deem that Twitter, although simpler, is the better social medium.
No comments:
Post a Comment