Google takes on Twitter, Facebook with Gmail ‘Buzz’
Google has announced a new feature, called ‘Buzz’ which will give its Gmail service similar social networking features to those found in the likes of Facebook and Twitter.
The new Buzz module (see video above) will let uses of Google’s Gmail service see their friends’ live status updates, and share photos and videos (thanks to a tie-in with the Google-owned YouTube and Picasa).
Google said this morning that it would rollout desktop and mobile versions of Buzz to all Gmail users over the next few days.
Meanwhile, Facebook has recently had yet another interface upgrade, which is being incrementally deployed worldwide ( many New Zealand users can see it this week). The revamp includes a Facebook inbox that takes on a more Gmail-like appearance.
Google will be looking to its mass base of Gmail users to serve as a springboard for its attempt to break the Facebook/Twitter duopoly. But Facebook itself is no slouch, claiming 400 million active users, while Twitter recently said it had 75 million.
By CommScore's count, Gmail had 176 million unique users in December.
Google also faces competition form Yahoo and Microsoft, which have already added social networking features to their web mail products - and Microsoft's Hotmail and IM products between them claim close to 500 million users.
Among the competition, there’s also some cooperation. In the US, both Google and Bing recently added real-time Twitter posts to their search results. Neither has any immediate plans to extend this feature to New Zealand users.
Last year, Twitter reportedly turned down a $US 250 million offer from Google, holding out for four times that amount.
Chris Keall
Wed, 10 Feb 2010
Wed, 10 Feb 2010
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Google takes on Twitter, Facebook with Gmail ‘Buzz’
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