So Google has finally decided to merge their mail service with user profile pages in a way that allows content to be fed in and named this Google Buzz.
I’ve probably over simplified it, but essentially you now have the option on your Google Profile of sharing information from your other websites with people you frequently email. This allows your Google Profile to work much like FriendFeed in that you can include your feeds from Flickr, Picasa, Twitter, a Blog, etc. In addition, the people who you email most often can choose to “follow” your profile and you in return have the option to “follow them back”.
So why is this added into Gmail’s interface instead of Orkut’s? I have no idea.
What I can tell you though is I’m already annoyed that Buzz needs to open everything I click on in a new window or tab. I log into Gmail, click Buzz, a new tab/window pops up, I want to check one of my friends links or posts, a new tab/window pops up, I want to edit my profile, a new tab/window pops up…
While neither Gmail or Google Profiles are new, Buzz is and while it has given me a desire to make sure I take the time to update my Google Profile to include correct and shareable information on the web, I can’t help but feel I didn’t really need this from Google unless they were going to merge these features in with Orkut.
Of course I just opened up a whole new question with that, what are Google’s intentions for Orkut moving forward. With this revamp to Profiles and Gmail, are they giving up on Orkut or will they eventually merge features into each other?