As reported by Cne
t news:
More tweaks are on the way for Google Buzz amid reports that the company is considering building a Gmail-free version.
In response to the angry missive directed Google’s way Thursday by blogger Harriet Jacobs, Google has made additional changes to the way Buzz interacts with Google Reader, according to Silicon Alley Insider. Buzz users who had blocked other users from following them continued to see those users following their public Google Reader items, which Google described as a “bug.”
Google Reader users can still share items on a private basis that their new Buzz-linked followers won’t see, but they shouldn’t be there in the first place, Google acknowledged. As a result, Google also plans to allow Google Reader users to block people from following them on that service.
“We reached out to [the] blogger in question this morning, and addressed her concerns with Google Buzz and Google Reader. Some of the concerns were due to confusion the product experience created. Her report also helped us discover one bug and one product issue in Google Reader,” Google said in a statement.
Also on Friday, Google’s Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product management, was quoted by Search Engine Land as saying Google was considering offering a version of Buzz that is separate from the Gmail version. This could alleviate privacy concerns about having one’s Gmail account and Buzz account linked, as well as give businesses an opportunity to participate without having to create Google profiles.
It has certainly been an up-and-down week for Google and the Buzz service. Few people seem to be complaining about the service itself, though Google has had to scramble to keep up with the privacy complaints…..
-I am personally glad to hear that Google is doing this because I know that when I opened my Gmail the other day, I didn’t exactly appreciate being punched in the face with all this “Buzz” business. They needed to make it more separate from the beginning, and not so overwhelmingly retarded. I don’t love the user interface much either. I think it’s a little too limiting and isn’t nearly as appealing to the eye as say, Facebook. I do like how it goes out and finds all of your Gmail contacts for you, but it seemed a little too eager to auto-follow all of them without me even telling it to. That, and I don’t necessarily like the integration to Gmail with it, especially with the above artice stating that people are “un-following” other people, and it still shows that they are being tracked. I’m still not sure on the geo-tagging aspect either, as it may be an invasion of privacy. I know it can be disabled, but is it really being “disabled” when you turn it off? Also, it needs to be more separate if it’s going to try to stand out and compete with other social giants. If you ask me, They’re a bit late in the game of social networking at this point, they should have worked this out and released it about 2 or 3 years ago. They should just stick with what they do best , which is their search engine stuff. I don’t believe that they can, for a second, compete with Twitter or Facebook, or even Myspace for that matter, and Myspace is seemingly dying out. All I can say is, until Google refines it’s “Buzz” program quite a bit, I will stick with what is working with Facebook and Twitter before even giving it another shot. It just seemed a little too confusing and convoluted for my simple mind, but maybe that’s just me.
What do you think about it (if you’ve had a chance to use it)?
Keep me posted with your comments.
-Lazy Idiot-
