Google has just announced their Twitter competitor, named Google Buzz. The twist–this service is completely integrated into Google’s Gmail service. It’s basically a new way to connect to your existing contacts in Gmail. Google lists 5 unique features of Buzz:

1. Auto-following. Google Buzz is populated by your Gmail contacts.

2. Rich, fast sharing experience. Same UI and keyboard shortcuts in Gmail. Special attention to media that users like to share, like YouTube.

Buzz has an integrated fast photo viewer.

3.  Public and private sharing. Real-time indexing in Google search for public posts. You use a drop-down menu to make posts either private or public. 

4. Inbox Integration. Buzz is a new item under the "Inbox" link in your Gmail navigation sidebar. It looks like an integration of Wave in Gmail. 

Any item in Buzz can become a conversation. When you share, and get comments and likes in your activity, you don’t just get a new email update. Updates show up in your inbox.  Comments and activity populates your inbox in real-time. 

5.  Just the "good stuff." With the ammount of social data going on in Twitter and Buzz, you tend to miss a lot of good stuff. In Buzz, you get updates from a recommendation system, even from people you aren’t following. You can *thumbs up* and *thumbs down* posts to teach the system to filter out the "bad buzz." Posts that you aren’t interested in get collasped and hidden. 

Next up, Buzz on mobile devices. It won’t just be the desktop experience. "Signal relevancy" will be taken into account (ie. increased filtering, location services, etc). 

More than just GPS location, Buzz will include Google’s decade-long investment in their location-tracking platform, including turn-by-turn directions. 

Buzz will work right from Google’s mobile homepage on Android or iPhone. There’s also a new Buzz app at buzz.google.com (Android only for now). 

When you use Buzz from Google’s homepage, it will make a "best guess" at your location, based on GPS or cellphone towers.  It’ll also make guesses about businesses nearby.

On Android, you can also post to Buzz with text-to-speech. 

Top Image credit: Gizmodo

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