I just want to throw out there some food for thought with the scope of engaging in a constructive conversation that’s currently going on about Google Buzz.  Social Media aficionados tend to jump on the “new thing” the minute it launches.  There is almost a need to be the first to try, the first to post, the first to claim “expert” status.  I must admit that I often fall into this trap and can waste a significant amount of time trying the last kid on the block.

Google Buzz - I was an early adopter of Google Wave.   To the point that I had a pre-launch account and even played with the API a little. I was convinced and still am that Google Wave in an innovative way of changing the communication and collaboration game.  When it came to Google Buzz, I didn’t have the same reaction. There was something smelly about it and I couldn’t figure it out.  However, for the first time, I decided to sit back and observe.

A closer look – It wasn’t until one of my clients called to ask me if his widget shouldn’t also connect to Google Buzz that I decided to take a closer look.  My first reaction: I don’t want my over 10,000 contacts to suddenly get an update from me with my status (often funny & sarcastic or informative and friendly).  I couldn’t remember who all those contacts were, but I knew for a fact that it included all types of exxxxxx (exboyfriends, exbosses, excolleagues, exfriends, exenemies, exexexex) so NO WAY!

Privacy Fails – Those instead who jumped on Google Buzz and rushed through the OK button without even reading the terms of service found an amazing surprise.  Suddenly it broadcasted their “buzz” to all their email contacts without even asking permission.  No wonder the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission charging Google with failing to protect the personal data of Google Buzz users.  Even worse, a woman from Florida filed a local class action against Google over Google Buzz.  What triggered her was the fact that Google added Google Buzz to most of their Gmail user’s accounts.   Thank God I wasn’t one of them, otherwise I would have been pretty upset too.

Google reaction – Having said all this, we must give Google some credit.  They started making privacy changes and improvements almost imediately after people started complaining.  They’re also doing a pretty good job with keeping everyone informed on their blog and even made some appology posts.

Lesson Learned - What ever happened to the pre-launch, pilot testing, phased implementation and all those concepts? I think we should all learn from this and never make an arrogant full blown launch.  I hope my clients read this and understand my conservative implementation approach with any project.  

What do you think? has it ever happened to you (even with a small scale project)? what do you think about Google Buzz privacy?