Aug 08
via tuaw.com
Oh Google Wave, I hardly knew ye. Have to admit, despite all of the hustling I did to get an invite (what a fad THAT was), I just never found any utility in it. Click “via” link for more.
Feb 23
There’s been a lot of “buzz’” recently about Google’s new social networking application of the same name.
The search giant recently decided to jump on the Twitter/Facebook bandwagon and used Gmail as a springboard for the venture. Google already had a fertile mine for users’ networks – the people they e-mailed most. So, when Gmail users decided to opt in for Buzz (which I barely remember doing, it was that quick), Google automatically generated a ready-made network with the people users already knew best. By default, those lists, the lists of people they communicate with the most, were made public.
So I hit yes. Suddenly I was faced with a page full of the people I had written the most over my six years of using Gmail. Near the top of the list was my ex-girlfriend, someone I hadn’t seen in nearly three years and don’t really wish to reconnect with now. I don’t know whether she saw that I was “following” her briefly, I immediately unchecked her from my list. But I was even more surprised when I logged on again later that day to find that she was following me, probably automatically, as well. This was not a reunion requested by either of us. Thankfully, nothing came of it. But I was pretty angry. It’s not Google’s business to reunite me with people from my past. Just think if I had been a victim of domestic violence or I had a stalker? Would I want that person to see me following them?
So Google has tweaked the application to make it easier to hide your list of followers and block others. The auto-follow list has become the auto-suggest list. But it may be too late. The barn door has already been opened. The Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and there may even be a class-action lawsuit.
Am I suggesting that everybody dump Buzz – or even Gmail – and paint Google as the bad guy? No way. But the Internet giant has to police itself a little better. Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto is probably still true, I don’t think they would ever consciously be evil. But, as the company continues to grow, it has to realize that you don’t have to be evil to do evil. Learn from the experience and take some extra time before launching that next chunk of the Google Empire.
I’ll continue to use Gmail. It’s a great product. I’m not so sure about Buzz, however. I’m still not convinced that it’s any better or more useful than Twitter or Facebook.
But I haven’t removed it from my Gmail account yet, I figured maybe I could follow Google CEO Eric Schmidt and see if there’s anyone interesting on his followers list. Funny thing is, if you try and look him up in Google, you get a “Profile Not Found” page. But luckily, Google cached the page.