After much conversation about the impact that Google Buzz would have, initial feedback has been solely of Privacy concerns. Testing of new Google services is normally handled in strict fashion, but with just 20,000 people testing the new service, Privacy issues were not recognised before launch.
Google Buzz, a rival to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, is a free to use service that allows GMail (Google Mail) account holders to chat online. Users can post status updates and add multi-media, photo’s and video to the Buzz stream.
The issues over Privacy came about when friends / contacts were automatically added to account holders profiles. This meant that any updates and pictures that were posted were seen by whoever was in the contact list. Google had apparently taken random contacts from email contacts and added them to Buzz friend lists. This resulted in a series of complaints, where email contacts that may have been business or customer related had access to personal updates on Google Buzz.
There is no doubt that Google wants in on the social networking scene. Having to speak to Twitter and Facebook and come to agreements over indexing content must have been pretty painful- they are not used to being in the news unless it’s about their own success. Buzz is meant to take a hefty share of the market and expand the Google content empire, and social networking is perfect for SEO (free content generated by users). Using the underhand techniques of ‘auto-adding’ contacts gives the new system a real injection of inter-linking, and is meant to create a multiplying effect.
It is yet to be seen whether Google will be charged for the Privacy infringement, we will report on this when there is any news in the coming weeks.
Tags: Google SEO, Social Networking
