So Google has unleashed its latest “we want to own all your data” demon in to the wild. Google Buzz is Google embracing the social media madness. It’s not terribly surprising that Google is entering this arena. With the popularity of both Twitter and Facebook it’s hard to ignore to potential for generating a lot of traffic to your site (and by site I mean to the people who advertise on your site). I know I’m not a fan of Google, and I don’t like the idea of them having huge amounts of my data. While my few Twitter posts aren’t exactly private or important (same goes for anything I’ve ever put on Facebook), I like less watching one company becoming the soul gateway to all things internet. No, they haven’t done anything where I can point to and say “See, they’re evil!”. I don’t necessarily think they plan on doing something horrendous that violates the privacy of millions. I’m more wary of the massive potential for them (or someone obtaining access to their systems) to essentially control the flow of a great amount of personal information.
While some I know have initially been favorable towards Buzz, I find myself looking at it in a different light. Of course I have to admit that I am not much fun of “social media” or most of the things with the “Web 2.0″ label. My involvement with them is mostly limited – checking and posting occasionally merely because a great many people I know use them frequently, and in some cases short of calling them is the only way I have to contact them. With Twitter I never go to the website if I can avoid it. It’s hideous, and has already had incidents of being compromised. I use a Twitter client that is nice, uncluttered, and sits in the background until I’m bored enough to skim it. Facebook, another site with history of compromises, seemingly changes their layout, privacy controls, and way you interact with it on a weekly basis. I look at it once or twice a week, but damn I wish it’s popularity amongst the people I knew would wain. All of this basically goes to say that Google Buzz, from the get go, is not likely to be my cup of tea. It also should be pointed out that I haven’t touched it at all yet. I’ve never liked webmail (I find it handy to have at some times), so I deal with all my e-mail via a client. I can’t remember the last time I logged in to my GMail account via the web. To be fair I probably should try it, but I’m not one to falsely claim that anything I write here is “Fair and Balanced”. Generally it’s more “Biased and Obscene”.
Somehow what was meant to be a skeptical look at the idea of Google Buzz turned more in to a rant of my loathing of social media. I like long rambling posts. I like actually taking the time to read things. The short form “thought bursts” or more colloquially “tweets” or “status updates” are fine and well but there is no substance and often times I find myself yearning for me. Perhaps it’s my background in English literature, but I prefer substance to form, rambling to quips, and long diatribes to a simple pronouncement like: “Social Media Sucks”.
