All Things Cahill

The Day Social Media Went Mainstream – Google Buzz

Google decided that I was ready for Google Buzz this morning, and it magically appeared in my email console.  If you haven’t heard of it, watch this video:

On first take, when viewed inside of gmail, Google buzz seems to be a real yawn.  Just another place where you need to update statuses to keep in touch with folks. Exactly what I’ve been warning would become the death of social media, the great diaspora wherein we all end up on separate and unconnected platforms.

That was my initial opinion, and now I can see I was dead wrong.  This isn’t just another service, this very well could be THE service (I struggle to avoid LoTR analogies here).  You see think about all the Google services, mail, image hosting, url shortening, search, profile, translate, Youtube, all woven into a single semi-open platform.

Instead of bits and pieces, we have the whole ball of wax.  Then wrap in a nice little API which I assume they will offer and you have everything that Twitter, Facebook and all the other social media services aren’t – an all encompassing open social platform.

So what happens?  Buzz becomes the lynch pin for the service that allows them to take on Facebook.  Forget about Twitter, they are immediately an also ran service.  By the end of the week, my Mother will be following me on Buzz, something that will never happen on Twitter.  No, this is a Facebook killer of epic proportions.

Here’s how it goes.  They firm up the platform, get people used to using it, then they make a simple pitch: who do you trust – Facebook or Google?  At that point we all nod, and it’s “last one left on Facebook turn out the lights.”

This is the day when Social Media went mainstream.