Google Buzz buzzed through our gmail accounts.  Maybe it didn’t fulfilled expectations as a Facebook  or Twitter killer and it is probably not going to become a  social network of the first choice for the most that soon… however, this may change by proliferation of Android basedsmartphones. Buzz did make its first 10 million users in two days and 200 posts a minute, but,  some questions made about Twitter regarding its user base may be asked about the Google Buzz – how many users Twitter does have? In this story there are more but two sides – how many people are using twitter.com and how many use some third party tweeting tools like HootSuite, CoTweet, TweetDeck, Brizzly etc. to tweet on Twitter. Another question is how many twitter users do tweet – number of tweets is not good enough to know how big twitters outreach is.

When it comes to Buzz similar questions may apply – number of people simply connected their Twitter accounts to Buzz and they post on Twitter while their posts end up on Buzz. So, this is who is who and from where game. Also, there will be users posting on Buzz and letting the Buzz retweet thing to Twitter for them. How many of Buzz’s users will continue to use it?

The Next Generations Twitter?

But, as much as iPad was ridiculed after its unveiling, this single event told us something about our future – there are Android and Windows7 based tablets as well and netbook market partiallycannibalised notebook sales, telling us a story about different future. One in which computers may become cheap devices allways connected to the Internet using wireless technologies. This devices may not be full featured computers. But do most people need full blown PC on their desktop? If you do nothing but surf the web, check your e-mail (perhaps online) and don’t need full featured office and other applications, tablets may be enough.

And, that is google’s playground – If you use tablet, or smartphone, Google Apps may be all you need. And Buzz is right there – inside your gmail. Sure you can still access Twitter orFacebook from your Android phone, but why would you?

Using Social Networks For Productivity

However, there is more in Buzz than meets the eye at the first glance – Buzz may not be a social networking tool with the most features, but may do great things for your productivity. If you ever used google groups to keep your colleagues or study buddies updated, brainstormed and discussed work issues, you may end up appreciating the google Buzz as a tool for this. Twitter can’t do that for you and Facebook is about socializing, even if lately used by companies to reach out for the individual users.

And I am allways in the “let’s use social networks as productivity tools as well” camp. I tried to investigate potential of the Goole Wave for using it as a productivity tool (see: Point Of View: What Google Wave is Good For and What It Really Needs?) and Stan Moffett (twitter.com/waveconsult) and Wave Consultancy and Training is trying to push people to use Google Wave for their businesses and gives tips for the students how they can use Google Wave as a productivity tool. So, in a way, you can see Buzz as Google Wave simplified and placed right inside your gmail.

For the end, there are some links you may want to read:

Millions of Buzz Users and Improvements:

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/millions-of-buzz-users-and-improvements.html

Five Reasons to Love Google Buzz, Five to Not:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/reasons-love-loathe-google-buzz/story?id=9819647