Apparently Google is unfamiliar with the concept of BCC (Blind Carbon Copy):

You know, when you mail something to a group of people but don't want to put all the emails on the To: line where they could be seen by everyone.

Because it's good manners not to disclose email addresses when not warranted. But Google Buzz doesn't care about that and has decided to expose your email address book to all and sundry. Apparently, this feature passed some sort of evaluation at a Google-fest, which calls into question the sanity of Google-fans. E.g.:

Google Buzz auto generates your network–this is MUCH better process than Facebook’s.

Also, Google has apparently redefined the word "follow" to now include people with whom you have email contact. That's not how I use the word. I "follow", in the sense of visit for-public-viewing websites: news outlets, twitter accounts, and similar places. Google considers reading email to be equivalent to following a public site. I do not.

Google Buzz was supposed to be an improved social-networking approach. Personally, I don't see the merit in that sort of thing, but perhaps others do. For a tight-knit group of four people, having a common message exchange platform can be useful, but when the number of individuals approach twenty or more, complications are sure to ensue.


posted by Quiddity at 2/18/2010 10:59:00 AM