Google, what’s next?

So Google Buzz, what is it all about? Google Buzz is a new service that has been launched by Google just recently. The services itself seems like a step from Google towards the Social platform, attacking sites like twitter and Facebook. Besides from the list of key features below, you can also have a quick peek at the below video:

• Photo friendly - See thumbnails with each post &browse full-screen photos from popular sites
• Connect sites you already use - Import your stuff from Twitter, Picasa, Flickr&Google Reader.
• See updates in real time - New posts and comments pop in as they happen. No refresh required
• Just the good stuff - Buzz recommends interesting posts&weeds out ones you’re likely to skip.

Looking at the potential that Buzz will have, for sure, people will start using it but will it offer the killer features that will have people move away from sites like twitter and Facebook? First it is good that Google already included an import functionalities for services like twitter and Flickr which allows people to more gradually start using the service without going cold turkey from day 1.

Second, Buzz will allow better tracking of comments which makes it easier to read a thread and comment on the stuff that really matters instead of just writing a reply in thin air, not knowing whether the recipient will understand what it is about.

Third, the ability to easily link to content and see it inline is a great feature that for sure twitter is missing (Facebook does have it). Just last week I wrote a small blog post about Twazzup, a service that is also showing inline content and I have to say, I am impressed, it works pretty good for a product still in beta (you can compare it to the late Pownce).

However, Buzz is (still) missing some key-features like hash tags. Die-hard twitter people will know that at least 1 in 5 tweets will contain a hash which makes it easier to search for specific subject that really matter to you. Next I see that Buzz will most likely extensively use your contacts which brings along some other issues. I have a zillion people on twitter of which I only know the twitter handle and of which I don’t want to have an entry in my address book.

So after this, what will be next? It is great that Google is launching all those new services and products but they forget one thing, consolidation. Since the beginning I have been using a Gmail/Google account for all services related to Google and soon after Google introduced Google Apps, I moved my own domain over to Google Apps. Nice, all services under my own domain. NOT! Still not everything is available for Google Apps which forces you to keep on using a Gmail account.

Now there are some workaround on still getting all services under your own domain but that involves killing your Gmail account and signing up for that service again with your Google Apps domain BUT this is a workaround and imposes some issues: 1) you can lose your account-name  2) you can lose valuable data 3) not all services are available in Google Apps as you are just using the same domain name to just sign into the other service.

To make all the services even more seamless then they are already, Google should really put some effort in consolidating Google Accounts and Google Apps, then after that, ensure that all services are available for all users which doesn’t leave them with having to sign into different accounts in order to see all data. With this, more users will stick with Google services, with all positive effects for Google (enter privacy fighters)

So Google, what’s next?