Meet Google Buzz, the new feature in Gmail

Want to know what your friends are up to on YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Twitter, but don't want to have to access all services and social networks individually?

To address this issue, Google has just launched the Google Buzz. Gmail's new functionality will allow service users to keep up with friends' updates right on the go. Inbox from Gmail.

Operating as a centralizer of information from other Google services and some social networks, Buzz allows the user to keep up with all the new information released by his friends. This information ranges from adding a new photo to Picasa or Flickr, to a new video on YouTube, or an update on Twitter. Everything appears in Gmail.

But if you think your email will be flooded with updates that don't interest you, you're wrong. The functionality will allow you to follow only what is really interesting to you. In addition to being able to receive updates from only the friends you wish to follow, you can choose which conversations you want to continue following and which ones you delete from your box.

Despite the large amount of information coming from other services, Buzz is a unique one-way street. From it, you cannot, for example, send a message to Twitter. But with the release of APIs, it is very likely that soon this and other features that are missing today will be part of Buzz.

If you imagine that from only external information that Buzz works, you are mistaken. It allows you to share texts, links and photos with your friends directly from Gmail. Thus, in addition to being able to make use of the information you share, they will be able to rate the shared content as well as post a comment on it or email it to you. All of this information is grouped into one conversation, available in the Gmail Inbox, and flagged with a colorful little balloon.

On your phone, Google Buzz is much more than just a small screen version. Mobile devices add an important component at the time of sharing: location. Posts tagged with the geographical position give an even larger dimension of context. Knowing where the person was when they shared something can be quite significant. And when viewed together, posts about a particular place can paint a much more vivid picture of that place. More information on all ways to use Buzz on your phone you find here.

Google Buzz, which is a creation of the Jaiku team (a company bought by Google in late 2007), will be gradually made available to all Gmail users. In my view, the great asset is what can make Buzz successful by being available on a service that has, only, 176 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore.

Buzz support be given in Gmail official forum. If you need them, I'll be there to help you. 😉

And as they say a picture is worth a thousand words, below some screenshots, kindly provided by the friend Newton Mota.