Google Buzz was announced/released earlier this week and it stirred up all kinds of emotions across the web. Some bloggers were impressed, others were not. Some bloggers were scared and more even shocked. And thats just from one site.
I think most people were confused. Google’s gone social? Not really, Google’s been social. It just hasn’t been properly defined.
A social network is a social structure made of individuals (or organizations) called “nodes,” which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as…
It’s that ’such as’ that makes social networking so popular. A network can be built on any shared value or interest. And that ’such as’ is a big concern, without it the glue that holds the nodes together disappears. Facebook and Twitter create an interdependency that maintains its value so long as it is the predominate method to connect with friends, family, and like minded individuals and share content easily. Much more useful are purpose driven networks, such as: Match.com, eHarmony, Yelp and possibly Foursquare. Those networks define themselves with a clearly defined purpose, important to note. Regardless of their popularity Facebook and Twitter are ultimately unnecessary, you don’t need either of them, they only assist you in connecting.
So what kind of new and exciting form of ’such as’ did Google come up with? None, they didn’t need to.
The Default Social Network ~ Google does Internet, the interdependency it creates is browsing.
Google has a social network, you’ve been a member from your first search. You’ve increased your membership with a Gmail account, a Google maps search and 300 some-odd YouTube views. Google built a network around the everyday tasks that make up a web browsing experience. A task so common, a company so synonymous with it, it has been verbed. Buzz is a small a set of lines that smoothly connects the dots, the entire Google family of products to its entire family of users.
Interdependence is a dynamic of being mutually and physically responsible to, and sharing a common set of principles with, others.
Is there a better example of web-based interdependence than search? We all need it, contribute to it and share the common principles associated with it. Google owns that interdependence. And, unlike existing social competitors, Google owns a need based network. Search alone would be enough to create a small social network of dedicated seekers who like to mingle, but Google offers way more than search. Google maps is easily capable of holding its own band of socially inclined users. Google Talk users can cut down chat to one conversation with their same group of contacts. Possibly most important, YouTube gets a personal channel that doesn’t seem overwhelming and is supported by thoughtful content pertinent to its viewers.
Value = Benefits / Cost
The value of adding a social network where you need to be is HUGE. Consider that you have the same benefits of other social networks: updates, picture sharing, chat, and profile elements without the cost of setting up and maintaining any additional real estate on the web. Instead of competing for personal time on the web, finding new ways to keep you glued to a site, Google has added a social layer to an existence you already have and need.
Google has worked backwards, through no esoteric strategy, and created a network of value-added products. To compete, alternative social networks will need to increase their offerings and differentiate themselves convincingly. Google has a built-in user base, a majority of whom overlap with other social networks. Google doesn’t need to prove it can be social, it already is, Facebook and Twitter must prove their reasons for existence.
Wal-Mart
Just like Wal-Mart’s strategy for entering banking and cellular; services that wouldn’t be considered groceries by most. Wal-Mart decides to offer them because its convenient to have your financial services and your wireless provider right where you already are, where you need to be. Wal-Mart isn’t getting into these services because they have a breakthrough, game changing product, they don’t need one they already have the customers. Although Wal-Mart wasn’t built on banking, it offers one less reason to leave, one less reason to open an additional account with Bank of America accross the street.
Another way of looking at Buzz is how network marketing often works better than opening a store. The cost is lower, the audience is tuned in, and the benefits are largely the same. Google is home base for millions of web browsers, and now its bringing social networking home, to its existing members. A social network or store that exists beyond your tasks requires the creation or at least continuation of an online personality. What a cost! That personality is confined to the design of the social network, limited by its structure, however large. Google Buzz works backwards and delivers a simple communication system that combines the online activities you already have.
If the lines become drawn, and they could, will you keep your Facebook friends or your Google buzz stream? Its unlikely people will put up with both, and even more unlikely that the companies will play nice forever. With Google’s impressive product line it will be hard to abandon the convenient everyday integration of Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Picasa, Voice, Docs, News, Reader and Wave(?) for … what is it called, Farmville?
To argue from another perspective, Google is putting out some quality product with Buzz. Load a Picasa album, post a YouTube video and feel the very simple and elegant presentation that Buzz offers. Buzz has the feature rich quality of a Facebook newsfeed and the simple layout of Twitter. The product is worthy of your usage on its own.
Lastly, the iPhone app for this thing is a killer. Its an HTML5 webapp that is better than 95% of the Twitter apps being used, and its only been out for a few days!
Buzz is big, even if not convincingly so overnight.
