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Every Tips You Ever Need to Know About Google Buzz

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February 11, 2010 By 31 Comments
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You felt left out. Alone.

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You are at the Dark corner of your  room and confused about Buzz. But willing to try it out?

Understood! I’m here! I’ll show you everything you need to Rock on Google Buzz

So what is this Buzz about Google Buzz?

Google Buzz is a social media application integrated with your Gmail account. It is kind of like friendfeed and part of it looks like twitter. It allows you to follow your contacts and integrates itself with your verified websites.

In simple terms:

  1. Share your updates to your known contacts or to the world
  2. It’s integrated in your Gmail inbox, conversations are grouped just like your emails
  3. No need to install any add-ons or software
  4. Upload and share photos, maybe you can write a short story about that photo
  5. Share a link, with your own words
  6. Ability to like or comment on any Buzz
  7. Connect popular Social Media platforms like Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Blogger, WordPress, Google Reader and many others.
  8. Allows updating your Buzz when you publish any topics or photos on these social media platforms
  9. Mobile device friendly
  10. The power of  Ajax, no need to refresh your timeline. It is real-time
  11. Allows you to email any of your favorite Buzz to others

That is the simplest way to put a description of Buzz when it is actually much more interactive. There are many other  possibilities.

Long story short.

I’m here to show you how to get started with Google Buzz.

Step 1:

If you do not have a Google profile, create one for yourself. I would suggest when you set the profile URL, please use your full name.

Remember what is your profile address which you can share via Email or IM.

Access your profile and click “Edit Profile” located at the right side top of your screen.

Fill up the necessary information. Scroll down to the “Links” section.

Google will then try to determine your websites and present you with a list of suggestion.

Add your favorite sites from the suggestions to your Google profile.

Now here is something you need to know. If you have any 3rd party sites like Posterous or Tumblr, you need to do some code changes in their themes. Go to theme edit mode. Place this piece of code right after the <head> tag:

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<link href="http://www.google.com/profiles/your.name" rel="me" type="text/html" />

This is to ensure that Google consider those sites verified as yours.

Note: the part “your.name” should be changed to your username on Google profile.

Edit your theme at Posterous (Advanced Tab), add the <link> tag:

Edit your theme at Tumblr (Theme Tab), add the <link> tag:

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TIP: This is applicable on any website which allows you to edit the HTML of their theme or skin.

Rather than wait for the Google crawler to re-visit your site, you can use the Social Graph API Recrawl  tool to force recrawl your sites for verification. This wonderful tool created by  Brad Fitzpatrick and Brett Slatkin.

TIP: You can use the “Recrawl” buttons to force check your site status again. The Green arrow means your site is verified.

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Privacy Concerns

In default setting in Buzz might expose contacts to each other or to the public. This issue pointed out by  Phillip Lenssen which could be a great concern about privacy.

What should you do:

  1. Go to your Google Profile Page
  2. Edit your Google Profile
  3. Click on “About me” Tab
  4. Go to Right hand section and un-check the box for “Display the list of people I’m following and people following me”

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Step 2:

If you are not already on Buzz. You can opt-in anytime by going Google Buzz.

Navigate to your Buzz, it is right under your Inbox in GMail.

For the first timers, Buzz will present you with a list of suggested followers and will ask you to connect your sites.

Connect your sites:

Once your sites are connected, these sites will automatically post Buzz depending on the new content on any of these sites.

TIP: Once you connect your sites to Buzz, you can also set the properties of a specific site updates to “Public” or “Private”

Step 3:

Start Interacting. Once you start following people you will see their updates on your timeline like twitter.

There are many ways to interact with a Buzz.

TIP: If you like to see all the Buzz from a specific person. Use the option shown below.

From the right side drop down menu you can:

  • Email that specific Buzz
  • Find link to the specific Buzz
  • View all Buzz from that person
  • Mute that post so the conversations related to that Buzz will not appear in your Gmail inbox and Timeline
  • Stop follow that person
  • Report Abuse

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TIP: You might see some Buzz are grouped and look like stacks, click on the stack top area to expand them

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Things you can do when you post a Buzz:

  • Attach a Link
  • Attach a photo
  • Set the Buzz to either for everyone or make it private (shared with only selected people)
  • Add @Reply to a Buzz
  • Post via email just like Posterous or Blogger. Send an email from your Buzz(y) Gmail with a photo attachment to buzz@gmail.com . It will be posted on your Buzzline.. Owh.. My bad .. I mean Timeline
  • Do you know you can format your buzz in markup:

    And here is the output:

TIP: Here is a topic from Mashable on “HOW TO: Integrate Facebook, Twitter, and Buzz into Your Gmail”
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Extensions

Google Chrome: Do you know there is a Chrome Extension for Google Buzz called Chrome Buzz. It displays Buzz notifications on Chrome.

Another extension for Google Chrome is Buzzer which allows you to make updates to Google Buzz from Chrome. You need to set up Google Reader to connect it to Buzz.

Firefox: Buzz It! will make a buzz status update via Gmail with the link and title of the webpage you are viewing. It will also shorten URLs with Bit.ly, allowing the user to monitor their link statistics.

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Buzz This button

Add Buzz This button to your web site or WordPress post. You can get some beautiful looking Buzz Buttons from Cheth Studios. You can right click and save this button too Google Buzz

Code for WordPress Posts:

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<a href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=<?php the_permalink() ?>&title=<?php the_title () ?>&srcURL=http://www.yourdomain.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow external"><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/google-buzz-this-small.png" border="0" title="Submit to Google Buzz" /></a>

Or

Get the Buzz Button WordPress Plugin from ClickOnF5 website.

Alternative Code (JavaScript):

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<a href='javascript:var%20b=document.body;var%20GR________bookmarklet_domain="http://www.google.com";if(b&&!document.xmlVersion){void(z=document.createElement("script"));void(z.src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/link-bookmarklet.js");void(b.appendChild(z));}else{}'> <img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/google-buzz-this-small.png"  alt="Buzz This" title="Post to Google Buzz" /></a>

REMINDER: Please update inside the yourdomain.com to your website domain name.

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Buzz from your mobile?

Open http://buzz.google.com/ on your phone. Also, you can find Buzz for your mobile devices here.

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Hiding/Disabling Buzz

TIP: In case you don’t like to have Buzz in your Gmail, you can turn it off. Scroll down to the Footer of your Gmail, click on “turn off buzz“. That will bring you back to your Gmail without Buzz.

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TIP: Create a Filter on your Gmail if you do not like too many conversations in your inbox.

Create a Filter with the word  label:buzz


Select “Skip Inbox” and “Also apply filter to XX conversations“. Click “Create Filter” and you won’t have any Buzz conversations inside inbox.

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Well, this should at least bring you up to the speed using Google Buzz. I will change and add new tips time to time. I would love to know your own tips too. You can discuss your tips at the comments. On the other hand, why not start a conversation with my Buzz?
I am expecting some other features in Buzz, such as:

  • Shortening a link of Buzz and post it across other social networks and/or even in ping.fm
  • Privacy settings
  • Lists to categorize favorite Buzzes
  • Distribute a Buzz to a list of people
  • Star Rating of a Buzz
  • Buzz polls
  • Integration with Google Talk desktop application
  • Integration with AIR clients like TweetDeck, Seesmic
  • Integration with web clients like HootSuite

Just ideas…. don’t change your channel… more to come.. In the mean time you can Subscribe to my RSS feed to keep yourself Tuned.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
About Ruhani Rabin

Ruhani Rabin is the original owner and author of this blog. He also reviews web 2.0 startups at Tech2all.com. Largely interested in web 2.0 apps & Social Media. Currently the Vice President of MOL Access Portal (MOL is owner of Friendster.com). Also he is Web 2.0 & Social Media Researcher and a Total fun Geek!.. There you have it ;)

Facebook Comments

  • http://www.itransition.com/ software development

    excellent post, it gave me some new ideas about Google Buzz.

  • http://www.ibankr.com/ how to sell a business

    The more you know about these tips, the more comfortable you would be in handling this useful social media like feature in Google buzz available in your mail. It is a very profitable information one and all.

  • http://www.thecrickteam.com/ realtors evansville in

    I think the post would help keep us abreast and trendy in view of the advent of new social media through likes of Google buzz. I appreciate the useful tips and tutorial in this regard.

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  • http://www.revealty.com/ Revealty Rbs

    Thanks to you for sharing this and thanks to Google for making this :)

  • greecetour

    Thank you for this Information . Good Post . Keep it up .

  • http://blog.mohdisa.com/ mohdisa

    nice bro, thanks for sharing. i like it, most important is google buzz cause my knowledge in google buzz is very poor. :)

  • http://blog.mohdisa.com/ mohdisa

    nice bro, thanks for sharing. i like it, most important is google buzz cause my knowledge in google buzz is very poor. :)

  • http://blog.mohdisa.com/ mohdisa

    nice bro, thanks for sharing. i like it, most important is google buzz cause my knowledge in google buzz is very poor. :)

  • http://www.webpagelottery.com/ WebpageLottery

    Wow, what a complete explanation.
    Google buzz is the second most people click on after retweet on my website.

  • http://www.promotepoint.com/ Google SEO Tips

    gr8 google buzz stuff, really informative and interesting mate, cheers…

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    hey,it's really a very good help.

  • http://sheristrykowski.com/ sheri

    Amazingly useful! Thanks so much, Ruhani.

  • http://www.sfihomebizz.info/ Kavita

    Thankyou for the excellent information about google buzz and maintaining google profile but I was looking for google buzz code for Blogger blog.

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  • gubatron

    You should probably break this post into several, very very long post.

  • http://blondish.net Nile Flores

    I really have no use for Google Buzz. I left gmail a long time ago and this is something that could have been an integration into Google Wave. Although I see the use, I can just imagine when they go down and people are getting ticked about not being able to access certain areas of Google that they needed.

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  • websitetraffic

    Couldn't be more comprehensive than this. Timely and to the point with lot sof useful tips. I appreciate it Rabin.

  • http://blogspot.fluidnewmedia.com Ahad Bokhari

    Good Post mate, especially like the Posterous and Tumblr examples! :-)

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  • totoprayogo

    hmmm, Tutorial that helped me to determine next steps.
    Thanks

  • http://socialpopstars.com/ JohniLouise

    The Man w/ the details as usual. =) I haven't decided yet If I am going to play with Buzz, I might. I am def curious about it but I don't do alot with my gmail beyond mail. I'm still weighing it. Keep me posted on results. If you like it, I probably will too (and not just coz you're there- that would just be bonus!) -winks- nah we tend to like similar tech tools. Try it out a bit longer and let me know if I should Jump in! =) Thanks for the great post! Tweeting it!

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  • fjfonseca

    Amazing post man! Really really amazing!

  • http://2fanofsports.blogspot.com/ wnabcreative

    That is just awesome. It's quick and adding those picture are really helpful. Love to know more about how to wright this type of great article.

  • http://socialmediahound.net dustyedwards

    You have out done yourself on this post my friend. Thanks for putting all the time and effort into this awesome post.

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  • http://millionclues.com/ Arun Basil Lal

    One more social stuff to fiddle with. Most welcome. lol

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