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2010 - 2011
Google Buzz
“The social feed that moved into your inbox.”
- Birth year
- 2010
- Shutdown year
- 2011
- Lifespan
- 1 years
- Peak era
- 2010–2011
- Company
- Category
- Social Networks
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What Was It?
Google Buzz added a stream of posts, links, and conversations to Gmail. It tried to connect social sharing with the people you already emailed, making the inbox feel more like a social homepage.
Putting social posts next to email changed the context in which people encountered them. A familiar inbox could suddenly become a place to publish, follow, and discuss, bringing different expectations about audience into the same screen. The convenience and the awkwardness came from that close connection.
Buzz's short life makes it a useful example of how product placement affects behavior. Adding a sharing stream to an established service did not automatically settle the question of what people wanted to share there, or with whom.
Things You Probably Forgot
- Buzz lived inside Gmail rather than requiring a separate social-network homepage.
- Posts could contain links and media as well as short updates.
The Story
- 2010 Google Buzz added a stream of posts, links, and conversations to Gmail.
- 2010 Its connection to email contacts made Buzz easy to encounter, but also made the boundary between private correspondence and public sharing controversial.
- 2011 Google discontinued Buzz in 2011 while focusing its social efforts on Google+.
How It Died
Google discontinued Buzz in 2011 while focusing its social efforts on Google+.
What Replaced It?
Memories
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