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Checking Out Gmail Buzz  (View post)

Roger White [PersonRank 1]

Thursday, February 11, 2010
14 years ago7,505 views

"if I understood Google’s wording right, then “people you follow” will show on your profile, and it must be public"

You can hide the list of people you're following as well as the list of people who follow you. From your profile, click Edit profile in the upper right and uncheck "Display the list of people I'm following and people following me"

Roger White [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Also, new posts will appear without requiring a refresh. I agree that the Refresh link makes this confusing and non-obvious.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Thanks Roger, I now checked that box :)

Michael Shea [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Once you have viewed large discussions, they should collapse when you come back to them. Also, new items seem to update automatically. It seems the page is in a constant refresh. Keep in mind I am using Chrome :) That's my experience so far.

Michael [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I'd like to only use it in the context of my friends or get news from others that post publicly. I've found there are a few discrepancies too. It's as though google talk (client), the public profile and buzz don't quite marry up properly. I have found though that you can go to your google profile and remove the option to show who is following you and who you are following. I've locked my public profile as best I can and just put the first letter of my surname. If you leave the surname blank it won't let you post in Buzz. My public profile is saying there isn't enough info to be included in the public profile search but I'm happy with that. I also changed my picture on the public profile to the default.

DPic [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Ahaha, shit got bananas =]

Dirk [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I dislike to turn my personal email into a messy place like FriendFeed, I prefer to keep it clean and use it just for email. That's why after having a try I turned off Google Buzz.

WebSonic.nl [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

So far I like Google Buzz and features to post tweets and blog messages automaticly are nice. But I don't see that I'm going to use it every day next to Cotweet, Google Reader, (Yammer at the moment) Mail etc. To much windows at the same time.

So it would be nice if Google Buzz came in Cotweet too.

Juha-Matti Laurio [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

'Warning: Gogle Buzz has a huge privacy flaw:'

http://www.businessinsider.com/warning-google-buzz-has-a-huge-privacy-flaw-2010-2

Adrian B [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Wow, unlike chats, buzzes are retrieved by POP3. I hate that.

Juha-Matti Laurio [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

From the linked article:

"There is a huge privacy flaw in Google's new Twitter/Facebook competitor, Google Buzz.

When you first go into Google Buzz, it automatically sets you up with followers and people to follow.

A Google spokesperson tells us these people are chosen based on whom the users emails and chats with most using Gmail.
...."

Alex Ksikes [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Buzz is trying to get your grandma use social networks, that's the power of it.

Nick Spacek [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Gmail also has a refresh button, but automatically shows new messages (eventually, usually seems pretty snappy to me).

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Now whenever I open the Buzz tab it says "x more people have started following you"... rather unhelpful in the lon run, I always click it away and next time it returns with another message. Can Buzz not put a block on this if the message appears more than X times per time frame?

Oh, and my family members are starting to follow me, too, I guess Gmail suggests me to them, so the seperation of these discussion groups seems to be half-way impossible.

Wouter Schut [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Google Buzz is very buggy when you use it in combination with Google Reader.

Google Reader keeps telling me there are new followers, but if i accept (and add) them they disapear when i reload google reader.

And google reader subscriptions for persons show up in buzz also. That makes buzz totaly useless.

Does Google have any clue what they are doing.

This seems like a rush-job. Not good. Not good at all.

Tim [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Google Buzz: As useless as Wave, but more intrusive.

I'm turning this thing off for good.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

[Cross-posted]

Just saw someone post here that his mother joined Buzz, or something. This might be a good example of why email contacts may not be the right way to find groups to discuss stuff with... because you may want to discuss wholly different things with your mom than with your other web friends.

And it doesn't matter if you don't follow THEM, because YOU will may well be suggested to them so they'll find you anyway. I could imagine this to be a perfect repellant for many teens ("Mom's lurking!")

WebSonic.nl [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

I really would prefer to have Buzz as a seperated service and not in Gmail. Just next to the rest like FriendFeed or Twitter. In that case it is easier to use Buzz and find and follow people. I'm not a Gmail user but a Google Apps user so I need to use Gmail as a social media service only to use Buzz.

I can imagine that many people stop using it after a couple of days, I think it's not as easy as Twitter. And a group of people will not use it at all because a Gmail account is required.

I find it difficult, you have a group of people in Buzz you would like to follow. You have a group of people in Twitter you like to follow and you have a group of people in FriendFeed you like to follow, and in Facebook Now what?!. I'm unplugging :-).

Many people use Gmail but also many people don't use Gmail.

Luke [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I find the contacts the worst part: auto following of people I may have emailed once (or vice-versa). People from random mailing lists or freecycle shouldn't be in my Buzz stream.

LeAnn [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I hated it and turned it off. First of all, it automatically has people following me and me following certain people, and I don't like that. Just because I email someone somewhat frequently does not mean I want to interact with them in that way. Do they not realize we use our email to interact personally and professionally?

I tried unfollowing people and now allowing them to follow me, but the hour after I did that they were following me again. Was it them or Google doing that? I can't say, but I turned it off.

What makes me the most annoyed is that it was just there. I didn't ask for Buzz, I never clicked anything accepting Buzz, it was just there and I was already signed up for it. No thanks, Google, I don't want all that crap in my email. It's why I sign up for RSS feeds and why I opt out of FB notifications going to my email, etc.

I think Google assumes we all want to communicate like they want to communicate, meaning Buzz and Wave. Wave is a big failure. After watching the Wave video I was excited, but it's never, not even close, worked like it worked for them. I have a feeling it will be the same for Buzz.

light year [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I do not appreciate Buzz.

Bob [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Huge Google fan... Really wanted Buzz to be useful, but I have to say its way too noisey. I'm sure Google will get this right eventually, but really wish they would stop introducing half-baked products. Come on Google, I know you can do a better Twitter/Friendfeed.

Wouter Schut [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

If i subscribe to someones shared items in reader, I automatically get that person in Buzz. Suddenly i get their pictures and personal stuff. But I just wanted the (professional) shared items.

That's another way personal/professional stuf gets mixed with buzz. Not handy.

But maybe it's the problem of publishers who mix their personal/professional stuff?

Who is to blame?

I'm not turning off buzz just yet. Maybe it will get usefull at one point in time.

Why didn't google release this in Labs first? This smells bad.

Wouter Schut [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

And this realtime search has become useless:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&esrch=FT1&gl=us&tbo=p&tbs=rltm:1&q=google&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&oq=

Now every buzz gets a hit for 'google' . And the real realtime aspect seems to be broken for buzz.

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