Google is now rolling out its Twitter-killer, Buzz [1]. It’s integrated with Gmail, but since I’m not one of the lucky ones yet, I have to rely on the video — see below — and the blog [2] for information. (I’m using Gmail in Google Apps, which, unless you’re paying the big bucks, won’t be benefitting from this: methinks moving to Apps was a mistake.)
From what I can gather the notion is that:
- you can send realtime messages to the world or to a selected group of people within your Gmail address book (whether you send directly into your friends’ Gmail accounts is unclear, though it would seem so; shades of spam, unless recipients can block Buzz)
- you’re not restricted to 140 characters (though I couldn’t find a mention of this);
- you can make use of Google’s ability to manage photos (thanks to Picassa), so that images get sent and can be viewed easily and in full; and
- you can import from Twitter and Google Reader (though whether you can export to any SN is unclear)
Google is clearly feeling its way here, trying to find the right mix between “old fashioned” email and (reputedly) overly complex Wave. Let us know your take, when you feel the Buzz.