What’s the buzz? 2/10/10

First, a Valentine’s Day public service announcement of sorts:

“Ah, Valentine’s day. February fourteenth marks that special moment in the year when Hallmark cashes in on our emotions and cupid gets busy shooting arrows. Whether you’re indifferent, excited, upset, or madly in love—there are seven things you just shouldn’t do on this lovey-dovey holiday.” Source: 7 things you shouldn’t do on Valentine’s Day – Holy Kaw!

Facebook has some important news that will get lost in Google Buzz. The implications for business are staggering…

“Facebook has updated their new statistics page and the most significant statistic is that sharing has increased 500 percent in only six months. The total number of users on the site has less than doubled in the same amount of time, growing from 250 million users to 400 million. That means the average user is sharing over 12 pieces of content each week.” Source: Facebook Application Statistics

The rest is all buzz about Google Buzz!

“Five years ago, Gmail was just email. Later we added chat and then video chat, both built right in, so people had choices about how to communicate from a single browser window. Today, communication on the web has evolved beyond email and chat — people are sharing photos with friends and family, commenting on news happening around them, and telling the world what they’re up to in real-time. This new social sharing is valuable, but it means there’s a lot more stuff to sort through, and it’s harder to get past status updates and engage in meaningful discussions.

Today, we’re launching Google Buzz, a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting and share updates, photos, videos and more. Buzz is built right into Gmail, so there’s nothing to set up — you’re automatically following the people you email and chat with the most.” Source: Official Gmail Blog: Google Buzz in Gmail

“Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don’t have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you’re sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.” Source: Official Google Blog: Introducing Google Buzz

“When I first heard about Google Buzz, I was worried that I might be seeing the birth of another “me too” product. After all, everyone wants a piece of the Twitter halo. But with the release of Buzz today, you can see how Google has taken the social media lessons of Twitter and applied them to their own core products. ” Source: Google Buzz re-invents Gmail – O’Reilly Radar

“It’s no shocker that the web is buzzing about Google Buzz (terrible pun intended), Google’s most aggressive push into social media yet.

The new social updating and aggregation feature integrates with your mobile and your Gmail, providing a service that seems like a hybrid of Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook and Yelp.

People are already taking sides, including some of Google’s competitors. Yahoo struck first, putting out an e-mail about its own previous (and similar) social media efforts before Google even finished its announcement. Microsoft didn’t take long to make its thoughts heard, either.” Source: Google Buzz: Competitors and Experts React

Me? I’m still waiting for Buzz to be added to my Gmail account. Doesn’t Google realize what an influencer I am? ;-)