Google’s New Social Networking Feature “Buzz” Hits the Net

February 9, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke

February 9, 2010 – Today, Google officially debuted its newest integrated feature to the already popular Gmail toolset. Designed to provide Twitter and Facebook-like functionality from within the Gmail interface, Google Buzz allows users to share messages, links, and photos quickly.

Google also indicated its intention to provide full integration for mobile users by developing specialized Buzz applications for mobile computing platforms, as well as providing similar functionality through web interfaces on mobile devices. While Gmail is one of the top three webmail providers in the world, they still lag behind the webmail patriarchs, Windows Live (formerly Hotmail) and Yahoo Mail. If the Buzz concept takes off like other Google products have, they have the potential to climb to the top spot very quickly.

It remains to be seen if this newest feature will be more successful than the disappointing result Google had with Orkut. For users who find juggling Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail complicated, the new feature has the potential to, at a very minimum, help Google gain ground on the current social networking giants. The key, though, is for the tool to be attractive and functional enough to generate a mass exodus that would ensure current Twitter and Facebook users are able to maintain contact with their current “Friends and Followers”.

According to some reports, users may see the new feature in their Gmail accounts as early as this afternoon. The rest should see it appear within the next week.