All tagged gmail
Trolling through the good ole RSS reader and I came across a post from the Google Wave Blog that was a tease of sorts as to what the service might turn into.
You remember Google Wave right? It was the much-hyped Google product that was going to revolutionize how we communicated. Well, that failed and failed miserably.
However, I still feel the concept of Wave is pretty bad ass. Real time collaboration in the browser will take off someday and it'll more than just instant messaging.
Google launched Buzz, their social media service that's tied into GMail, a few months ago with some fanfare and loads of fizzle. Privacy quickly became a concern with users and as a result, the company tweaked the settings.Despite the bumps in the road, Buzz seems to be puttering along and Google isn't ditching it.
Evidence of that is the fact that Buzz is now available through the mobile version of GMail.
Gmail users are used a lot of little add-ons that make the experience of regular email much richer than other web-based solutions.
At the same time, they are used to the slew of ads that pop up in the right hand side of the page. While blended into the experience, it's still advertising.
Why not remove the ads and replace it with social content related to the sender of the email you're reading?
That's the premise behind a new tool making the social web rounds called Rapportive.
I've spent about 45 minutes messing around with Google Buzz. I'm on just about every social media service that is available. I use a ton of apps for both PC and Mac. I also have used a ton of apps on the Blackberry and iPhone. Long story short, I know way too much about social web services and technology.
So, when Google Buzz opened the door to me, I jumped right in. Here are my initial thoughts:
Techcrunch is reporting that Facebook is in the trenches and just about to attack the messaging beach front, a move that will be debated as a Gmail killer.
I don't think it'll happen and here's why.
First off, Gmail has taken over the email world. Due to it's funcationality, accessibility and all around smartness, Gmail quickly squashed Hotmal and Yahoo mail (and others). Users are widely embedded with the service, me included.
While Facebook is the online gateway to information for 350 million plus users, Gmail still has a strong following in my opinion -- so much so that users won't take the initiative to move over to Facebook. Now, if somehow Gmail will be able to work inside of Facebook, that'll be a game-changer. However, I highly doubt that will happen.