This morning, Google finally pulled back the curtain on its rumored social networking product. It's called Google Buzz, and it's being billed as "a Google approach to sharing," in the same way Gmail was "a Google approach to email." In the 15-minute demo of Buzz, Google hit on 5 key features, plus an overview of the mobile version of Buzz.
Google Buzz will begin rolling out to the general public in just a few minutes, although it might take a few days before it's accessible to all users. Meawhile, you can check out the video announcement of Buzz.
Here are the five main features of the desktop version of Buzz, which will be built right into Gmail:
1. Auto-following
You don't need to build a new social graph from scratch on Buzz. It uses your Gmail social network, and automatically adds the people you email and chat with most often.
2. Rich, fast sharing
Buzz pulls in content your friends share on Flickr, Picasa, Twitter, Google Reader and YouTube, even if you don't use those sites. There's a special focus on video and photos, with a custom photo viewer that lets you navigate galleries in full screen. When you share a link, Buzz fetches the headlines and photos from the post you're sharing. The keyboard shortcuts you already use in Gmail all work the same way in your buzz stream.
3. Public and private sharing
Privacy settings allow you to share publicly (quickly indexed by Google, of course), privately, and with custom groups.
4. Inbox Integration
Buzz makes sure you don't miss new comments on the stuff you share. You don't get new email when someone comments, but your Buzz comments show up along with your email in your inbox. The comments show up in real time. Also, Buzz borrows Twitter's convention of @replies. You can type @ and a username and Buzz will autocomplete your contact and deliver your message to that user's Buzz.
5. Just the Good Stuff
Buzz has a recommendation system that brings in shared items from friends of friends, and learns from your feedback. You can collapse the stuff you don't care about, to make the filter better in the future. At the same time, if someone you're following posts something you don't care about, you can collapse that, too. Google says that Buzz will only get better at filtering over time, like Gmail has.
Plus, mobile features:
The mobile interface for Buzz goes beyond Gmail, and uses location as an additional tool to find relevant shared stuff. You can use Buzz from an Android phone or iPhone just by going to Google.com, and there's also a new web app at buzz.google.com. Clicking on the Buzz icon at Google.com will convert your latitude and longitude into a place name, so you can post a geotagged Buzz.
Buzz is also going to be integrated into place pages in Google Maps, so you can read people's comments about a location. Buzz will also have a "nearby" option, so you can see Buzz items from people near you, instead of just people you follow. Geotagged posts will now show up as word-bubble icons on Google maps, too.
Google's big announcement: Google Buzz is sharing, Gmail-style
