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Read about the author Sudhindra Mokhasi, read his blog, see his tour schedule and events in your city and register for a book event. Write to the author. Read his columns in newspapers and more... |
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Sudhindra's writes a fortnightly column in Deccan Chronicle / Asian Age in the Business - Technomics section. This column 'Tech-Sutra', will appear every alternate Monday starting 15th Jun 2009.
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Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, London
Monday, 15th February 2010
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:: Business / Technomics
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The Buzz!
15th February 2010
Sudhindra Mokhasi
I discovered I live in an interesting neighbourhood. Someone was pining for their valentine, someone else was enjoying a sumptuous meal at an obscure restaurant, another was enjoying sunset from a train bound for Mysore and yet another had finished a workout at the gym.
And I have never met any of these people. I discovered them through the new Google Buzz application.
Google Buzz is an interesting amalgam. The set up happens via the PC and its Gmail interface and the use happens predominantly via an Internet enabled mobile phone while allowing for a seamless interconnect between the two worlds.
Unlike Facebook and to a large extent Twitter, which have subsequently added mobile channels, Buzz is designed from the ground up for both PC and mobile use.
So why is Buzz different?
After all, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft have all tried to build social networks atop their free mailing systems.
Google describes Buzz as "Go beyond status messages. Share updates, photos, videos, and more. Start conversations about the things you find interesting". Stuff you would find in any other social networking site. But wait, like all things Google, this is just the veneer.
When you log into Gmail, you are redirected to the Buzz page, asked to create a profile attached to your mail ID and rather presumptuously offered a list of followers and following based on a rather obscure algorithm. But hey, you can clean up the list as you want. It then asks you to link data sources from Gchat status, FlickR, Google reader, Picasa to surprise, surprise Twitter.
Your Buzz window is then populated with updates from the people you have chosen to follow.
So far it's pretty close to what Yahoo and Microsoft have done. The real differentiator is in the mobile version of Buzz. Full versions of Mobile Buzz are available for iPhone and Android based phones as of now and limited functionality on other phones.
Mobile Buzz via Google maps is a geo sensitive application that uses information from cell phone towers to identify your location to within 600 meters through. It allows you to post and read Buzz and see Buzz for a particular place or location. It even allows you to just speak "post Buzz" in voice search from Google Mobile App on iPhone or the quick search widget on Android.
If you don't have Buzz on your telephone, don't worry. The latest version of Google maps has a Buzz layer which allows you to explore Buzz as you traverse through the map.
Some months ago, I wrote in this column how Google is the juggernaut of the Internet world -- one that slowly, skillfully but inexorably overwhelms competition. Rarely a first mover, Google's strength is in waiting for market innovations to reasonably stabilise and then introduce their products with differentiating USP. Although Google is the de-facto search implement of the Internet, there are self contained worlds being created within the Internet universe that are threatening Google's dominance.
Social networking site Facebook is one and the upstart short messaging site Twitter is another.
Facebook is especially threatening because it is a rapidly growing gated community within the realm of the Internet, one where Google's writ does not prevail. Companies post their news, celebrities create fan pages, Photo, video and notes sharing happen within the confines of Facebook. And the real worry for Google is that search within and outside happen through Microsoft Bing.
Twitter is a simple and powerful idea of publishing status messages of up to 140 characters. A hit with celebrities, this is a predominantly one way communication. The most commonly used mode is where anyone on the Internet can see the updates and anyone with a Twitter account can follow them along with optional location information.
With its social networking site Orkut and OpenSocial initiative seeing declining interest and attrition, Google had to respond. Buzz is that response.
Will it prevail? Its early days, but the potential exists.
Sudhindra Mokhasi is CEO of a technology firm and author of ‘BPO-Sutra: True stories from India’s BPO & Call Centers’
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