I am a Google fanboy. So I really liked this post by Paul Buchheit. Google really is the best company its size. And Paul points out Android and Chrome. I have said at this blog before that those two alone are two separate Google size companies. They are big.
Image via WikipediaFacebook's out to conquer the web. Facebook is the biggest competitor that Google ever had. It is not Microsoft. To compete with Google, you needed to be online, and Microsoft is not exactly online. And this competition did not come from search, it did not come from the government stepping in with some anti-monopoly lawsuit.
I was not even aware the guy was following me on Twitter. And, no, he does not follow everyone who follows him, although he does follow about 17,000 people. He is followed by over 115,000. Scobleizer is one of the top names in social media. I briefly, very briefly, interacted with him on FriendFeed, that was before Facebook bought it. I wonder that was the day when he added me. It's all good, all I got to say. Go Scoble.
Earlier today I was fooling around with Buzz. Even before that from just reading about it in the news, I never thought of Buzz as a Twitter or Facebook killer. My suspicions have now been confirmed. Buzz is a Gmail enhancer. Otherwise my Gmail experience was starting to get a little staid.
Google reinvented email with Gmail. I don't think it has reinvented social, updates and geo with Buzz. But it sure could not have afforded to be left behind. Social is not Facebook, updates are not Twitter, geo is geo. These are elements of the web experience, and they will seep through to everywhere or most places. The leading dot com could not have skipped the cacophony.
Two names popped up during my first experience: Adam Carson, and Vin Vacanti. I never connected with Adam on Facebook like I now do on Buzz. The guy got me on the Reader bandwagon long back, but once I got strong on Twitter, I shifted over to Twitter. My Twitter page is my newsfeed. I skim through the headlines in the morning on my Twitter page. Vin I got introduced to over email last year. I met him in person a few days back. And now I am part of conversations with his friends. And Buzz does not cut into my allowed Gmail space. That is important to me.
Right now my Buzz box is sexier than my Gmail Inbox, and only one click away. I am liking the experience.
One Buzz thread had the founder of Gmail and FriendFeed saying Buzz looks "familiar." How did Google find out I might be interested in that particular Buzz thread? They got it right. I don't know how they did it, but all I got to say is keep tweaking those algorithms.
Facebook buying FriendFeed has been one of the more exciting developments in tech as of recent. There has been much speculation as to if Facebook did it for the talent or the product. It has to be both. Facebook had been copying little features here and there from FriendFeed. So why not go all the way and acquire?
If you think social media is a sideshow, possibly even a distraction, then this is hum-ho news. But if you think social media is no hype, that it is a big deal, like I do, this is a huge deal. This merger is a big deal.
But this is not a Twitter killer merger like some have been suggesting. Twitter is in a slightly different space. FriendFeed was half way between FriendFeed and Facebook in terms of functionalities. It was a choice between imitating Twitter and acquiring FriendFeed. Facebook made the right choice.
And to think Android is set to have a big buzz for the rest of this year. Feels to me like this blog is about to ride a wave. Give me some traffic, Donut!
You could argue FriendFeed is doing it, but maybe not. Hotmail had an Inbox. Gmail has an Inbox. Before Hotmail Outlook had an Inbox.
Twitter beat Facebook to the punch on the stream concept. Facebook has all the traffic, but Twitter has all the buzz.
The buzz moved from Microsoft to Google and Bill Gates offered to buy Google, "at any price." The buzz moved from Google to Facebook, and Google wanted to buy Facebook. Facebook wanted to buy Twitter.
"Is my credit good enough to buy you out?"
I came across UnHub when this TechCrunch article got emailed to me recently: UnHub Offers A Simple Way To Showcase The Online You. UnHub smells of possibilities, although the tough economy has many of us on the tizzy. It is a crack at the stream concept. Many took a crack at the Inbox. Many will take a crack at the Stream. Several will survive.
If you think about it, it is ridiculous that I have to go to this one place on the web to update my status. The stream should be able to zap up my status on its own from my many different online presences.
Evan Williams has talked recently of revolutionizing email. Perhaps the next level email will attempt a fusion, a fusion between the Inbox and the Stream.
Image by Robert Scoble via Flickr
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enhancer. Otherwise my Gmail experience was starting to get a little staid.
page is my newsfeed. I skim through the headlines in the morning on my 
page. Vin I got introduced to over email last year. I met him in person a few days back. And now I am part of conversations with his friends. And Buzz does not cut into my allowed Gmail space. That is important to me.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u8WKgwfFYf8arRFJ45MwX_7YPbMt2ytGj0kSIKejtmco0HAecPpiHT2dqWuu2kEyDhd2Q9hwAdmV894CUj0LBfwBojKc457f-YRy2alTxLitsxVBfGvE64QCpjlgqKeB-y1pgJCElX-WPjcnMm198i=s0-d)
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