Google Buzz Takes a Hit at Twitter & Facebook; Never to Replace Them

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There goes Google again launching a new service in a niche where we already have plenty of contenders fighting for the crown. Does Google really need Google Buzz? Do we really need a new social networking environment in which to connect with each other through 140-word status updates and location-aware updates?

Google Buzz is probably going to be a Facebook and Twitter competitor although it’s not going to replace these services anytime soon. The new product was launched today and we shall put this new Google Buzz thing under scrutiny to see why we’d want to use it.

So what is Google Buzz really and why do I need it? Google Buzz is an upgrade, if you will, of Google’s well established email platform, Gmail. It builds on Gmails’ features and wants to help you share stuff through Gmail with your friends and family. Google Buzz will offer you Gmail messaging, video chat and it will work closely with other services, namely Google Maps especially when used from your smartphone.

Does it sound exciting yet? Well in case you’re thinking I am against Google Buzz already you’re mistaking. Google has apparently built a great social networking platform on top of Gmail. It integrated features found on Twitter and Facebook to offer as an even better networking experience. I am just saying that they maybe we don’t want everything to be Google-related in our lives. The company is slowly taking the Internet over and these are just some of the baby steps it needs to accomplish that.

Google Buzz will let you immediately interact with the people you contact most through Gmail. You will be able to share photos, videos and status updates. You can even follow shared stuff from other people and everything gets sent to your Gmail account. That way you add lots of clutter to a great email client but that’s the price to pay in order to be sure that you’re not missing anything that’s happening right now with your friends and family.

Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and Picasa integration is available and, as you expect, the new application will work great on smartphones like the iPhone and especially Android handsets.

So what do you say folks? Are you ready to Buzz your way through Gmail from now on?