While everyone else online has been overreacting about how “annoying” or “pointless” Google Buzz is I’ve been busy trying it out, having some fun and discovering something I like.
I was replying to a Google Latitude friend request at lunchtime and realised something pretty interesting. I can update my Buzz status from within the mobile versions of many of the Google webapps, including Gmail, Gtalk, Docs, Calendar, Tasks, and of course Latitude. It’s just a real pity that it’s currently missing from the Google service I use most regularly on my iPhone – Google Reader. Except that I can of course share items I read on Google Reader to Buzz, along with or without a comment.
If Google roll out this little feature across all of the mobile versions of their products they’ll be bringing a tiny bit of multi-tasking to the iPhone. Being able to update your status from within the webpage you’re on (and not having to go through the process of either switching between Safari pages, or closing Safari and going into Tweetie and then back to Safari again – both relatively slow processes on the iPhone) is something very interesting. This will bring a little bit more of the desktop browsing experience to your iPhone and will work great on the iPad. Also, the little colourful icon always on the top of your webpage is a great reminder of the service you’re forgetting to play with.
It will take time to see if Google Buzz pays off, but for now I hope someone takes this little iPhone webapp multitasking work-around and implements it for Twitter, or someone in Facebook realises how nice it would be to be able to update your status from any page within the site.
I agree, I think Google Buzz is getting too much blow upon its launch and honestly it is still too early to determine if GB is indeed an innovation or just another add on destined to be forgotten.
Thanks for the tip… At some point Google will get everything squared away. Being able to update your “Buzz” status is great for marketing… include your URL in your status update and Google grabs t right away. – Dan
Thanks for the comments guys, I think the jury is still out on this one.
Hopefully, they will support all of the major mobile platforms, but, when.
HTML5 is fulling implemented, things like this
will be automatic!!
Nice post.