The new service is called “BUZZ” and was introduced today, launched in 1% of Gmail inboxes. Google plans to extend the service to the majority of Gmail users within the week.
For users of Gmail, Buzz is a way to share media (photos, videos), conversations and status updates with their friends, just like on Facebook.
At the same time, Google plans for the Gmail users is to offer an application that brings together the information published by their contacts, forming a data stream similar to those of the Facebook and Twitter. Buzz is also coming to Google Android and Apple’s iPhone as well.
According to market research company ComScore, Google Mail has 150 million unique users, proved a good springboard for Google in the world of social networking. But this doesn’t guarantee the success. Google’s previous attempts to make their presence felt on the social networking market failed, and experts say that will be difficult for Google to attack Facebook’s position even with the new strategy. "This must be considered a defensive move” said Ray Valdes, analyst Gartner.