Google Buzz: Google Joins Social Media

According to The Wall Street Journal, Google’s email application, Gmail, will be releasing “… a new feature that makes it easier and faster for users of Gmail to view media and status updates shared by their friends.”

Gmail users currently have the ability to update their status, but it’s more of a signature type of status rather than a “what’s-happening” kind of status through the Gmail Chat feature; which, by-the-way I find to be a lot more useful than other instant messengers.

Apparently, this new feature will show a time-line of what others in your network are doing, similar to that found on Twitter and Facebook.

The Wall Street Journal also says that it will integrate YouTube and Picasa into the stream. My question is will they integrate Google Wave into the equation?

This new element sounds like a new support feature or even a rival to Facebook and Twitter. It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on, so that’s exactly what I’ll do. Check back to see how this story develops.

UPDATE:

Google Buzz has arrived!

In a recent blog post, Google announced a new venture, Google Buzz. This is, in essence, bringing Google into the world of Social Media.

Here’s part of Google’s statement on their new feature:

Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don’t have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you’re sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.

Yahoo responded to the buzz about Buzz by “reminding” everyone that they themselves have Yahoo Buzz … which I was completely oblivious to; it’s just another testament to Yahoo’s backseat position and its inept marketing.