Google Buzz has been kind of a bust so far but I have a lot of hope for the mobile aspects of the social networking service. Google has just released a new Buzz widget for Android, and this may help spur adoption.
The widget will sit on your screen and let you quickly upload text or a picture that can be geo-tagged. You can still access buzz through the browser or via Google Maps, but this widget makes it easier to use. On the desktop, I find Buzz to be an unneeded mess but the location-based features of the mobile version can be appealing. We’re seeing companies like Foursquare and Gowalla are gaining a lot of traction with location-based check-in models and I think this is where Buzz will become popular. In its description of the new widget, the search giant pushed using it to place location-based reviews of restaurants (getting nervous Yelp?).
“”You can post buzz about a great meal you had and share photos of the new restaurant,” Google said in a blog post. “To save time, your posts will upload in the background, letting you get back to your scrumptious dessert without waiting.”
It’s way too early to count the service out because I’m sure it’s going to be integrated deeply into future versions of Android. Facebook recently surpassed Google in traffic for a week, which could indicate that there’s going to be a material shift in how consumers use the Internet. It’s not going to happen overnight, but the social web is increasingly gaining relevance and could be a threat to Mountain View’s finest. The search giant has also said the desktop will be “irrelevant” in as little as three years thanks to the proliferation of smartphones, which also points to the importance of its mobile social network.
Download it now from the Android Market, and the widget is currently only available in English for Android phones running 1.6 or later.
[Via Google Mobile blog]