So I sit down at my desk this morning, opened up Gmail as I always do and noticed Google Buzz. I read like 61 trillion tweets about Google Buzz over the past few days so, of course, I was fatigued with it to begin with. Tweets, blog posts, RSS feed just loaded with it. I was expecting someone to say at breakfast, ”hey, did you try Google Buzz…what’s that about?” (no one would ever say that to me at breakfast though…make me eggs! is usually about the best I get for breakfast conversation.)
So my point is, I was not enthusiastic. However, being a student of the social web, I jumped right in.
My first thought was HEY wait just a minute there Google, didn’t I just jump into Google Wave in the fall? How is this different? (I dunno because I’ve already forgotten Google Wave.) If a tool or technology can’t capture my attention within the first few hours of trying it, I abandon it and forget it.
I posted my first Buzz message “test.” Outstanding I know. I imagine a bunch of people followed my great content at that point…nearly as good as my “start” status on Twitter. I posted no link, no video, no photo but did do an integration with Twitter, Google Reader, Picasa, and Google chat. I didn’t email my test post, I didn’t “like” anyone else’s stuff, and I didn’t comment on anything. My answer to Google’s question “Share what you’re thinking. Post a picture, video, or other link here” was test. That’s what I was thinking. Another freakin’ test.
I’ve spent about 30 minutes with Buzz so far. I updated my profile. Looks like you can almost make it your one-stop for all things social media.
I don’t have much more to report after just 30 minutes. On the down side, I don’t see how it can support multiple accounts. Right now I can’t open two gmail accounts at the same time. This has always been a problem for me. Sign in, Sign out, Sign in, Sign out. Second, it seems like it will clog up my email (sorry thats “G”mail). I think we should be getting away from email.
And, it seems like Buzz is making a bunch of decisions for me. I can’t properly explain that but Buzz kind of felt like there was going to be some guy around the next corner when I was walking home in the dark. Boo! Oh, it’s just you….my suggested friends. Boo! Oh, it’s just you Pete Cashmore from Mashable and while you’re here Pete, how did you get 12K followers already? (probably with better content than “test.”)
So I’ve hit a wall of sorts. I’m going to go cold turkey for the next week and stay away from all my various social web activities. Instead, I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning and take out a pencil and paper (old school) and document how the lack of social media is impacting my work, learning, and productivity. I’m actually going to disconnect.
It’s appropriate, I think, that Google Buzz is the catalyst because the social web is a bit like addictive drugs but without the craving of munchies. I’ll report back next Friday the 19th.
