Like many of you, I woke up to a strange thing in my gmail account: Google Buzz.
It’s a new feature that acts like Twitter except that it lacks the character limit (the only thing that makes twitter good) and it has some weird privacy issues.
It’s default position on everything is public.
Without asking, Google Buzz immediately, gives away the names of the people you email most and makes their addresses available to whoever wants to look.
You know that time I sent you an email? Well, I wasn’t making friends with everyone you ever sent an email to. And considering the amount of stupid party invites for dumbass promotions I get plus the chattering lunatics who sometimes contact me, I figure you weren’t signing up to start meeting those people.
Just a guess but this thing looks like a spam magnet.
If you post something from a mobile device it not only gives your location but a map to your location. I can’t imagine anything good coming from that. If I want people to know my location, I’ll just tweet it. And I rarely tweet it. If they want to find out, they can at least put a bit of effort in.
But what finally turned me off the whole thing is that I view my email as being a basically private place. Having a social network in there feels like having a meeting in the bathroom. When I’m emailing someone, I’m in a different headspace than when I’m tweeting. Other people are the same way.
Lines will get crossed between the public and private sphere.
For now, like any old fogey, I’m content to keep these zones separated.
I turned off google buzz — you can do that at the bottom of your inbox– and though I might occasionally toggle it back on, I dislike the thing.
