Today, Google unveiled their latest product Google Buzz.  Supposedly, it will be Google’s new way of communicating, not to be confused with Google Wave, which is, well, if you know, please tell us, because the rest of the internet is trying to figure it out.  Currently, if you go to the Google Buzz webpage, you get a nice Google logo, with Google style cartoons, saying all of the great things you can do with Google Buzz, and a video talking about just how great it is.  It also contains a button that says “Try Buzz in Gmail”.  When you click on it, you get taken to your Gmail inbox.  Once their, I noticed that it looked exactly like the old Gmail inbox, that is to say, there was no Buzz.  after a little confusion, I went back to the original website, and noticed a bit of text at the top that said:

We’re still rolling out Buzz to everyone, so if you don’t see it in your Gmail account yet, check back soon.

Meaning that Google has not decided that I’m not worthy enough to actually see Google Buzz on the day that they announced it.  That’s somewhat typical.  I’m just a standard internet user, new to blogging, programming, and engineering, as such, why should pick me, other than that the remainder of the website says that it’s out and ready to use.

Having a private beta is not just how Google works, most companies will do that.  However, Google is notoriously public who they invite, or how to get into this beta, namely, to ask for an invitation.  However, Buzz is working differently.  Google has decided to an approach similar to Twitter.  That is, role it out quietly.  Make it part of some people’s accounts, and eventually to everyone.  In some ways, this is good, it means that you don’t need to create a new account, or fill out some form asking for an invite, etc.  Also, the massive rush for Google Wave invites has been qualmed as well, as the invite isn’t even being used..

All in all, this doesn’t seem like the biggest thing Google had done.  Their video seems incredibly similar to Gmail already.  That is to say, it will likely be the best social network platform on the planet, but everyone will still continue to use Facebook.  Also, it will be somewhat difficult to tell whether I am getting an email from a mailing list, or just another buzz post, with the exception that buzz posts won’t have a little number on them that says unread.  Thus, I must say that this product doesn’t seem very useful.  Now, if they integrated Google Reader, and GMail, and Twitter, and possibly Google Voice, and every other social networking platform into one place, then we would have something.  However, there still isn’t much new going on.

With that being said, I may be grouchy because I didn’t get an invite, like Mike Arrington hates the Pre.

Update: It looks like I’ve been ‘invited’.  I must say, I like the idea much more than Facebook or twitter.  The UI is fast and sleek, I also love how it integrates into Gmail.  My current gripes are the lack of options.  Currently, you are forced to sort by posts with the latest comments, however, this simply means that the top posts in buzz are just popular ones, unless you only follow close friends.  Also, while I like seeing replies to threads I’ve commented on in Gmail by default, that should be an option that can be turned off by request.