#137 - How do you BUZZ all about it?

Have you been following Joel Mark Witt's column about Google Buzz for the last couple of weeks? Joel has a great handle on the upside and the downside (and everything in between) when it comes to Google's latest entry into social networking.

Check out Joel's easy-to-follow, comprehensive article at FolkMedia - http://folkmedia.org/google-buzz-in-gmail/

For beginners, you can watch this quick YouTube video Google produced to give us all a basic understanding of what Buzz does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi50KlsCBio

I am quite surprised after some reading, video viewing and playtime at my own Buzz site, that I find myself thinking that Buzz may work better for me personally than Twitter. I certainly don't have time to manage both. How about you?

Perhaps the creators of Twitter should be worried. Yes, Twitter is the current go-to for many people who like to socialize while on the go, and PR professionals intent on spreading the word. Still, social media is a very fickle place and things here can take on a life of their own. Twitter could burn out just as quickly as it originally ignited. So, will the masses move to Buzz? Only time will tell.

Seriously, I doubt Twitter will go anywhere soon (although stranger things have happened). From Buzz and Twitter to Facebook's Fan pages, it's all about business. This product may be social in nature but like every form of media today, it is ultimately advertising supported. If the producers don't profit then the medium either changes or disappears. The bottom line is always financial.

So, let's Buzz on and check out the link to Joel's post today at FolkMedia. The best advice we are sharing is that NOW is the best time to establish your Buzz profile. Do some experimenting of your own. Dive in. It's important (as a student of all things social media-related) to test the waters while the tech is new. (It's that whole "early bird catches the worm" thing.)

Have you already visited Buzz to set up an account or update status? You can find me at http://www.google.com/profiles/msuwordsmith. Let's share our experiences here by commenting in the box below.

Meanwhile, back at the Google lab...
Google is still working on additional features to make Buzz work for businesses and schools, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Buzz isn't yet available in Google Apps - but stay tuned. If you have a gmail account, just log in to automatically see the new "Buzz" link under "Inbox," that means Buzz is on for you. If you want to learn more in the meantime, just visit buzz.google.com.

#135 - What's the buzz now? (Hint: it's Google - again)

Just when the hoopla over Apple's iPad has died down, here comes Google with yet another major entry into the social media landscape. Google finally made its formal announcement of the most talked about new feature to hit the net yet - Google Buzz.

The latest Google product was designed to compete with both Twitter and Facebook, and sure, it's just another way for us to conduct social networking. But this new feature is integrated with Gmail and several other Google products, so maybe it could give Twitter a fight. There are still holdouts to micro-blogging. Too bad Google wasn't ready with this six months ago - before Twitter blew the roof off every projection with its record millions of new users worldwide.

Google explained in a number of venues today that its new "Buzz" consists of five main features:

1. Auto Follow, 2. Fast Sharing experience, 3. Support for Public and Private Sharing, 4. In-box Integration (with Gmail), and 5. Just the good stuff.

The last feature, The Good Stuff, is where Google Buzz actually recommends interesting posts to users and weeds out the ones you're most likely to skip. Sounds pretty good, huh? Given how much I weed through on my Twitter home page these days, I do find this application appealing. What do you think about the new features Google is selling?

Do you think you would actually use Buzz in addition to Twitter and Facebook or instead of one of those two? It's very hard to imagine any company actually giving Twitter a run for its money at this late date. Still, if anyone could, it would be Google.

For an in-depth look at everything the new Google venture promises to add to our social networking stratosphere, check out this article in today's TechCrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/09/if-google-wave-is-the-future-google-buzz-is-the-present/.

As I see it, the main drawback to the Google innovation is that you need a Gmail account to make it pay off. Believe it or not, I am one of the last holdouts to using gmail for email. Must I, really? I have plenty of emailboxes as it is (and everyone already has my addressed). Bummer.

Still, it's much too early to predict whether Google - the almighty king of the Web - will ever be able to successfully compete socially. They've not had the best track record. (Remember OpenSocial...FriendFeed?) No? See what I mean?

Anytime Google launches a new product it's big news around the blogosphere, because Google has grown omnipresent. It's also a company that knows how to succeed. One of Life Lesson's central goals is to report on those items which are pertinent to students and consumers of social media and mass communications education. And, I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more buzz about Google's Buzz. You have my sincere promise that I'll be staying current with the reports so that I can let you know when thing become worthy of your time.

Stay tuned...!

Please add your comments below on the topic of Google Buzz. Let's get this conversation rolling. Part of creating a successful blog is having the capability to foster conversation. (Without your comments, I'm the only one talking.) So, you can see why I need your thoughts to make this work, especially as I develop a series of workshops on social media as it relates to marketing for businesses and in the lesson plans of journalism and mass comm educators.

#127- How do you define Social Media?

If you’ve ever had a hard time explaining “Social Media” to your family (or your colleagues), here's a quick overview to illustrate the differences between Social News, User-Generated Content, and Networking sites.

Categories of Social Media:

• Social News sites allow people to post and vote upon news or other content they consider noteworthy.
• Social Networks connect friends to each other with pictures, status updates, and other applications.
• User-Generated Content is found on sites where users can upload content and make it public. UGC also includes formats like comments, ratings and reviews, and other feedback mechanisms.

Here are the places these things overlap:

• Blogs have strong characteristics of all three of these categories. Their content is generated by users; they can have news value, and they are often viewed by a network of followers (something I'm working very hard to build here, for example).
• Twitter is a collection of networks that follow each other's brief status updates, to whom the news is considered noteworthy.
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication), allows a network of subscribers to receive new or updated content.
  

If you read this blog you’ll soon realize that I’m a huge fan of social networking. I believe in it, especially for anyone in business, but even more so for small businesses. Social networking is a tremendous way to stay on top of a niche and build connections. But there are appropriate times when you can take a break.

Just as with anything else in life, you’ve got to know when to walk away. Sometimes, a planned break can energize you. You come back stronger and ready to run some more. That’s true in a workout, business, relationships, and a lot of things - including social networking.

But how much time should you take off and when?
Just do what is right for you. Obviously, holidays are days most standard businesses take off – Christmas, New Year’s, etc. It is reasonable to take off recognized national holidays

Site/community managers, bloggers, and others must not disappear for too long, however. Taking an entire month off from social networking will cause a loss of momentum. A week off here and there is probably not a problem. A day off is perfectly acceptable for a blogger or citizen journalist. Days off can give you back the energy you need. But, if you run a social community or even a fan page or web site for a small business, it's important to try and find someone to fill your shoes when you need time off - someone who knows your company or product and who can represent your business well.

So, if your batteries need re-charging, by all means, take a break, just don't be gone for too long.