Same for me. That's weird. Not sure why that is.

It's a twitter-like module for gmail...

Works for me when I tried it second time, but now its put some weird icon onto the top right hand side of my GMail. Is this anything to be worried about? Nothing happens when I click on it, I just get a message saying "Function void". Have I just screwed up my PC? Can anyone advise me if this is going to cause me issues?

It's actually a backdoor, if someone is accessing your account using the backdoor then everything accessed using the backdoor is added to buzz

It sounds to me like some sort of social layer for Gmail

Remember how they said they'd like to sort messages by importance? Parhaps this could be something related to that...but 'buzz' doesn't seem like quite the right word...

I tried it and get a message that simply says "The label name "buzz" is invalid."

there is something on AT&T u-verse called BUZZ, maybe it's reserved for that?

Probably related:
- Maka-Maka http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-09-11-n21.html ("will become the infrastructure for all social stuff across all of their applications")
- Magic Inbox http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/05/gmail-magic-inbox.html (cf. DPic's "sort by importance")

This is now a google-Buzz.

It's interesting. When you try to add a label named "Buzz" it says : Sorry, you can't create a label named "buzz" (it's a reserved system label).

Another interesting thing is that if you try to add a label named "concept" it says : The label name "concept" is invalid

They are killing off the bees

It just so happens that I was already using the label "buzz", and Google renamed it to "buzz0" today. I tried to switch it back, but I get the same error about it being reserved.

MP why don't you take a screenshot of the icon and post it here? everyone will be pleased.

I had a similar problem creating a label named "todo". I don´t remember the message, but it allowed you to label messages with it, but then it never showed the label or something like that. Weird...

I found a related mention by Gary Burd at Friendfeed. He states that the keyword "buzz" is a namespace at Google. More info here – http://friendfeed.com/gburd/84111880/this-c-code-from-google-uses-namespace-buzz

Moi: Isn't "todo" reserved for Google's Todo list feature? For any emails you attach to todo items.

Buzz sounds like a social feature. Interesting.

Oh God..another evil Obama socialist plan. Quick, all Republicans sign out of Gmail immediately! Doesn't apply to Dems as we don't care about them anyway.

Built-in twitter like application?

A couple of people here got it just right....
I can't tell you more guys.

Can't it be that it is because of Google Voice? With Buzz I think about a buzzer and that let me think about phones...

Looked into loaded scripts and found this sequence of apparently restricted labels:
"inbox, star, starred, chat, chats, draft, drafts, sent, sentmail, sent-mail, sent mail, all, allmail, all-mail, all mail, anywhere, archive, spam, bin, read, unread, voicemail, voicemails, mute, muted, important, outbox, buzz".
Label "todo" is missing here (bug?), so it is validated differently and gets a different warning.

I was able to create a label buzz buy then gmail behaved weird and when I reloaded the page the label no longer existed. I use offline gmail so I assume that the offline client allowed it but when it tried to synch to the server there was a problem. :)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703630404575053480962942848.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEADTop

From the WSJ:

<< Google Inc. is taking a swipe at Facebook Inc. with a new feature that makes it easier and faster for users of Gmail to view media and status updates shared by their friends.

Google could announce the new Gmail feature as soon as this week, said people familiar with the matter. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.

The change will add a module that will display a stream of status updates from people that a Gmail user chooses to connect with, said one of these people—a format popularized by Facebook and Twitter Inc...

The new stream will also eventually include content that a user's connections share through its YouTube video site and Picasa photo service, according to one person familiar with the matter. But whether those features will also be announced in the coming days remains unclear. >>

More here:

<< Later this week, Google will unveil add-ons to Gmail that let people post and view messages about their day-to-day activities, according to a person at Google briefed on its plans. This simple tweak to Gmail will let Google mimic the status updates that have driven much of Facebook and Twitter’s success, as people return to the services again and again to check out what their friends and co-workers are doing. >>

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/technology/companies/09social.html

Announcement tomorrow at 10am...

http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/08/google-to-unveil-broad-new-social-product-tomorrow/

Live event broadcst http://www.youtube.com/feb0910googleevent

Buzz is live!

http://www.itpro.co.uk/620311/google-unveils-google-buzz

http://blogoscoped.com/forum/167280.html

Who will win the trademark infringement suit: yahoo or google?

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-truth-about-google-buzz-2010-2

"It's late, boring, and lame"

ouch

We should do a "Here's my Profile, follow me on Buzz" thread :-).
Mine's at http://look.ma/buzz'n or just http://www.google.com/profiles/softplus

Ha, I'm following you now John. I was able to push the button on your Google Profile, but I don't have Buzz in Gmail yet. So I haven't tried it myself but the integration in Google Profiles is nice this way, logical step too.

Nice short URL! :-), your own personal url-shortener?

Until you have it in Gmail, you can start following people & comment on their Buzz in the profile pages. There's also a chance that you might already have access to the mobile version, if you have a suitable smartphone, try http://buzz.google.com in your browser there. The team is rolling it out as quickly as possible, so hopefully you'll have it soon :-).

(yes, that's my personal URL shortener :-))

I already see the updates in Google Reader now. By the way Google Apps users don't have a Google Profile so that means that they cannot be followed through a profile page, bummer.

I have it on my iPhone but not in my Gmail yet

I love it.
Here's my profile http://www.google.com/profiles/mustafa.zaza

JohnMu
Following you

Here is what buzz is you knuckleheads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi50KlsCBio&feature=player_embedded

No setup needed
Automatically follow the people you email and chat with the most in Gmail.

Share publicly or privately
Publish your ideas to the world or just to your closest friends.

Inbox integration
Comments get sent right to your inbox so it's easy to keep the conversation going.

Photo friendly
See thumbnails with each post, and browse full-screen photos from popular sites.

Connect sites you already use
Import your stuff from Twitter, Picasa, Flickr, and Google Reader.

See updates in real time
New posts and comments pop in as they happen. No refresh required.

Just the good stuff
Buzz recommends interesting posts and weeds out ones you're likely to skip.

BTW, I know have the tab 'Buzz' in the settings. Here you can disable Google Buzz. When disabled the messages will be removed and your Google profile will be removed. I find that strange........ There should be an option to only remove Google Buzz without deleting the profile.

JohnMu, mine's http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo