Comments on: Google Buzz – weird email or weird Twitter?

By: Rarst

Rarst — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:18:58 +0000

@DataRat

It’s more for people who enjoy staring at Twitter or Facebook all day long and tell it is meaningful to get important stuff that way. :)

My problem is Buzz is no what it delivers, it is that it delivers things I read elsewhere anyway.

By: The DataRat

The DataRat — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:13:23 +0000

Sorry, but I’m completely and utterly without ~any~ idea of
what Google Buzz could do for me. I also suspect the majority
of Internet users feel the same way. Waaay too esoteric !
Maybe the bleeding-edge types can figure this one out, but I’m
at a total loss.

The Computer Rodent

By: Geek Squeaks’ of the Week (#49) « What's On My PC

Geek Squeaks’ of the Week (#49) « What's On My PC — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:11:35 +0000

[...] Rarst.net Google Buzz – weird email or weird Twitter? [...]

By: Rarst

Rarst — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:47:27 +0000

@Saurabh

Well, Google is not alone with bright idea that if people are lazy to make connections and glue themselves to services… they could be helped with that. :)

By: Saurabh

Saurabh — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:37:32 +0000

Sorry for spamming your post but: here’s an update on some privacy issues.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/02/21/facebook-acquires-contact-importing-company-octazen/

By: Saurabh

Saurabh — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:58:55 +0000

I would when I have more time. Till then I have a tumblog, saurabhk.tumblr.com. Its fate is yet undecided. :) (Warning: NO original content whatsoever) I am hoping that I get more time when I get into college.

By: Rarst

Rarst — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:45:18 +0000

@Saurabh

You can always start your own blog, instead trying to make sense of services someone packaged for you as they see fit. ;)

By: Saurabh

Saurabh — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:20:11 +0000

Let the arguments rest. On the other hand I believe that I would be using Google Buzz, especially when I get into college and get a life, where at least people would listen( thanks to auto-follow or auto suggest) rather than twitter which turns out to be rather disappointing for many people who like to believe that they are at the center of the revolving world. :)

By: Rarst

Rarst — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:58:23 +0000

@Saurabh

Sorry if it sounded aimed at you, I meant that some people really freaked out and were screaming first and looking at settings second (or never). Peak of stupidity was complaining about Buzz showing publicly (!) shared Google Reader items.

This most certainly was a privacy issue. Google did screw up a bit. But many treated situation like Google has an huge obligation to babysit their privacy and think for them.

By: Saurabh

Saurabh — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:44:25 +0000

Well if you didn’t opt out the first time the only place to remove the contact lists was hidden at the profile page, where I rarely visit. They corrected that later on and made it more prominent. (disclaimer: as far as I remember. :))
Most major web services ask for your gmail login info for your contacts and most people have little qualms in providing that. It is indeed hypocritical for them to be so concerned about privacy now. But not every user is like that. (at least thoretically.)
The “small” set of of my active contacts that Google chose was all 22 of them. (yeah I would have loved to follow them which I did. )
Some people(e.g company professionals) could have had sensitive contacts and many people keep the same email id for work and for personal purposes.
If you’re trying to convince me that I’m overreacting and I’m hypocritical then perhaps you’re right. :) But if you’re trying to convince me that Google did not have a privacy issue, I won’t agree with you.