More evidence that #GoogleBuzz is a winner. There’s a big crowd of people who use Gmail but who are too lazy/busy/coolforschool to switch out to FB / Twitter to make friends & make updates. Credit to Google for making it simple to get started (auto-follow is a *win* despite the complaining) and giving Buzz a utilitarian feel (everything from the deep integration of location to the UI) to win over folks who don’t feel at home in the purely social networking environment.
Don’t get me wrong, Twitter & FB aren’t going anywhere, but Buzz will be the 3rd most popular way to get social on the Net sooner than later.
UPDATE: “Buzz is not about beating Facebook or Twitter it’s about commoditizing them.” - this post by TomsTechBlog.com provides the best commentary I’ve read on Google Buzz.
