Google Buzz Gmail Fails Against Facebook & Twitter
Google’s recent attempt to crack the social networking market comes courtesy of an ill-conceived service titled Google Buzz. The idea is that that Buzz provides similar status updates, and shared links, and so on, right inside of your Google email account. Of course, it is this very concept that dooms Google Buzz to failure, and casts a wide shadows of doubt upon the company’s once legendary ability to understand what users want and deliver useful innovation to the web.
Google Buzz Flaw
The primary flaw with Google Buzz is, ironically, the feature that the company is most proud of, it’s tight integration with Google Mail.
The privacy advocates have thrown up a hundred red flags as Google rolled out Buzz, and the company seemed a bit unprepared for the backlash. More tellingly, it seemed to be completely caught off guard by the problems that were pointed out, as evidenced by the numerous changes it made to the platform just days after it was unveiled.
The only explanation is that Buzz was built by Google, inside of Google, by Googlers, who are advanced and dedicated users of all things Google. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, except for when that it means that "within Google" is no longer in sync with the world outside of Google. Of course, a ten-year Google employee has no problem linking together all of his Google services. He’s probably been doing it through other means for years. Likewise, he is only too happy to have another way for friends, family, and co-workers to find all of this stuff that he put out there on the Internet for all to see.
However, out here, in the 99.99999999% of the world that is not inside of Google headquarters, we have lives that are not universally linked. Most people have families, friends, co-workers, co-workers who are friends, colleagues who are acquaintances, but not necessarily friends, bosses, ex-girlfriends, and ex-boyfriends, and ex-wives and ex-husbands. Some of us have kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. Likewise, some of us have parents, grandparents, and maybe even great-grandparents. For each of these groups of people, there are undoubtedly sub-groups, ranging from conservative to liberal, political to non-political, religious and not, those who enjoy British humor and those who think it is stupid, and on, and on, and on.
The point of all this is that in our lives we are not interested in blending all of these layers together. The Wednesday drinking buddy would laugh hilariously as the cartoon we found, while the dad from our kid’s play dates would be horribly offended. Surely, this is the point of lists and groups, but there is more.
Email vs. Social Networking or Gmail vs. Facebook
Which brings us to the fundamental misunderstanding that makes Buzz a non-starter. Who we email, and who we tweet, update, and share with, are not the same.
The super-techie types and the super-marketing types may insist that the power of social networking websites like Facebook and services like Twitter comes from being able to interact with your whole network all of the time. However, the vast majority of those of us who make up Facebook’s 400 million users are neither.
We only link to certain friends and contacts. We shudder when our Great Aunt Matilda sends us a friend request. We don’t want our contact list to be our friends list.
In other words, while my Google Address Book bursts at the seems with people I met at a conference two years ago, and who from time to time, I do send emails too, I am not interested in those people seeing pictures of my kids, my new barbeque, or where my tickets are for Buffs home games. Frankly, I’m not interested in hearing about those things from them either.
If Google wants to play in this space, they have to acknowledge what everyone else has already figured out. The web is not all just one big thing. That’s why social networking is often called Web 2.0. It is different than the "regular" Internet of websites, searches, and emails, and we like it that why.
Incidentally, if it is any consolation to the search engine king, this same concept is why, for all of its attempts and numerous re-designs, Facebook search and Facebook email is doomed to failure for anything outside of the Facebook environment. While I might love to hear what my buddy Frank has to say about his new high-definition LCD TV, I don’t care what he thinks about the benefits of knee surgery, spas in Crested Butte, or where to take my children for their birthdays.
Facebook and Google, social networking, and the regular Internet are all different, and never the two shall meet.
Social Newtorking for Newbies
Ok, here we go. I’m jumping into the world of social networking. Why? Because, online, social networking IS networking. Just like a local business owner should network via various organizations, an online business owner should network via various social networking sites. The theory is that if people already know and respect you, and they already know what you do then someday when they, or someone they know, needs a service or product that you provide they will of course come to you. This kind of networking leads to being able to run your business via Reverse Cold Calling instead of you always having to go find new clients. Of course, it doesn’t work this way if you are just in it to get clients. Go to a Rotary Club meeting and hand out fifty business cards only to never return and you can be sure that your “networking” will be a failure. On the other hand if you join Rotary, go to meetings every week, meet people, get to know them and generally become respected as a good member and a good person, then the business will come as a side affect of being a member. It won’t work the other way around.
So, with that premise in mind it is time to launch the social networking campaign. Since any attempt to simply join to get clients will result in failure, joining needs to be about both contributing and building a presents for each social network. And, therein, lies the catch. I don’t get social networking. It has never made any sense to me. I’ve been to Digg, and del.icio.us, and Twitter, and Facebook, and Myspace, and frankly I don’t get it. Oh, the idea of online bookmarks was a good one, but now that I have Foxmarks to synchronize my bookmarks I don’t need them on some website. The whole concept of social networking is that by finding other people like you, you can look at their bookmarks and find great new websites that you have never heard of, and vice versa. Sort of a Netflix recommendation via a matching person instead of via an anonymous matching profile. Sounds good, what could be the problem?
I’ve Got Morons to the Left of Me…
The problem, in a word, is jackassery. I’m going to copyright that, so don’t bother writing it down. Jackassery is the implementation or conception of ideas or actions that would only be committed by or appreciated by a jackass. Or, more Webster-ly: of or pertaining to being a jackass.
99.999% of people on the Internet are fine, normal people that while you may or may not have anything in common with, you would at least be willing to give the benefit of the doubt while you got to know them. One would assume that such a ratio would hold online as well. While that may or may not be the case, the hard truth is that fully 90% of all people who step forth to proclaim their opinions on social networking sites fall into the category of people you don’t want to hear a peep from. There are many sub-categories of these people including: the boring, the socially challenged, the pedantic, the banal, the copycats, and of course the morons. Check the front page of Digg and you will see not 15 very interesting stories that challenge and stimulate your thoughts, but rather 3 “funny news” stories, 1 “funny” Youtube link, 3 “I can’t believe <insert politician/newsmaker> did this” stories*, 5 “Unix is best, No Mac, No Umbuntu, Microsoft sucks” stories, and 3 “technology so new you can’t even buy it and even if you could what would you do with it” stories.
Obviously, these kind of stories don’t inspire me to read. If I want funny news I’ll go to Fark.com. If I want social commentary I’ll check sources that actually care about facts. If I want technology news, well…they might have me there. Anyway, every time I click the “find other people who also liked this” button or its equivalent I find people so nightmarishly moronic that I wonder if I should not have been reading that site in the first place lest my IQ dwindle just from being tangentially associated with such people.
Try It Again – This Time With Feeling
The truth is that I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who are not bozos. The problem is that they are harder to find. You see, the people that you actually want to know, and quite frankly those in a position to actually benefit from your products or services have lives. And, because they have lives they don’t spend all of their time building up their power and credibility on Digg or whatever. That means you won’t find them on the front page. You’ll find them through narrower searches and taking your time. I’m a “now” kind of guy so taking my time is not my forte. However, I am a business man, and as such I’m willing to put in the time to improve my business. Therefore, I will now be making a better effort at the whole social networking thing. I’ll be starting with Twitter. I really, really, don’t know what the heck this thing is for, but we’ll see if it can be for more than 15 year-olds telling each other what store they are in a the mall.
Wish me luck.
*”I can’t believe <someone> did this” stories tend to fall into the same categories over and over.
- Those who want to change the Internet and or those who sue that use use it (RIAA, Phone company execs, Congress)
- Conservatives (social networkers tend to be liberal overall — though conservative social networkers have certainly carved out their own niche, but you have to go find them.)
- T.V or Movie execs who make/change/buy/option/comment on/think about geek properties such as comic books, sci-fi shows or books, graphic novels, or old T.V. shows. Think “alt.nerd.obsessive” (thank you Simpsons)
- Celebrities
