Google considering independent version of Buzz

Google could develop a standalone Buzz service, but the new social networking service will not be separated from Google’s Gmail e-mail service.

Buzz is Google’s latest attempt to develop a presence in the social networking community — but has been met with early criticism from Gmail users concerned about privacy.  Google recently modified settings so that Buzz users can now stop their Buzz contacts from being shown publicly and the “auto-follow” feature has been changed to “auto-suggest.”

The No. 1 search engine company apologized for the privacy problems, despite two significant changes in less than one week of service.

“We quickly realized that we didn’t get everything quite right,” said Todd Jackson, Gmail and Google Buzz Product Manager, in a blog post.  “We’re very sorry for the concern we’ve caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback.  We’ll continue to do so.”

Gmail, the No. 3 e-mail service trailing Microsoft and Yahoo, has led Google to look for new methods to help keep people interacting in a Web 2.0 world.

I understand that providing the service for Gmail users opens up a much larger userbase, but it may not be worth the fight.  The problem is that a standalone version will likely get neglected in favor of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social networking services.

Actual user commentary regarding Buzz ranges from heavy criticism to some early fans, with Google encouraging users to continue to voice their opinions.  I think Buzz will ultimately become another Google service that will be in beta for years to come, even if Gmail users have no interest in using the service.

I still find it shocking that Google didn’t realize that many Gmail users don’t want their lists of followers to be publicly available — and shown to other users.