Google’s effort at social networking, Google Buzz, and they are unquestionably making a statement. Although it’s unclear who it’s directed at, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft? Google is certainly no stranger at trying to gain social networking market share, their past tells the story. Dodgeball, Jaiku, Orkut  all failed dreadfully. Google has learned from its blunders and this time has started from scratch. The key distinction is that they built their own social network as opposed to purchasing one, a very smart move to say the least.

Starting from scratch is not completely true, because Buzz taps into and is part of Gmail’s several million user base.  It’s an instant social networking platform with potentially millions of eager users out the gate. Buzz at its heart is a suggestion engine, content combiner that tries to pull in content that is applicable to your interests. They do this by looking at your existing social graph, primarily data that you already have in Google and a range of external services. Buzz’s algorithms are suppose to evaluate users’ preferences such as, what they like and dislike, what their friends are sharing, and who they’re interacting with and makes suggestions based on this data. In the end it boils down to who you follow, this will dictate and balance signal to noise.

Buzz shares the same major features as Facebook and Twitter. Users can post original content by sharing links, photos, videos, and status updates. You can comment on and “like” friends’ content just as you do on FriendFeed or Facebook, and send @ messages to get particular users’ attention. Content such as images, and videos are viewed inline with very good quality. There is no capability to create filters or lists, something that was the actual standard on FriendFeed. Facebook and Twitter soon followed. Sharing content out of Buzz is non-existent; content in Buzz does give a permalink, however. I imagine this will change as the product gets on it’s feet.

From a brand perspective, it’s premature to tell if direct involvement is required. Buzz is about discovery, sharing and communicating. At its center, Buzz is a content collector. If you’re a brand or marketer you must pay attention to this space very closely. The Buzz team has been very receptive to user feedback and I think we will begin to see this product evolve and take shape fairly quickly, maybe faster than any other Google product launch to date.  We know Google is paying attention, but can they keep the momentum going? Will this be a genuine social networking platform contender, or simply a toy  for early adopters’ and FriendFeed deserters looking for a new place to call home? It’s much to soon to tell, but it definitely has a lot of potential on numerous levels.