Are you Buzzing yet? Do you have your Google Buzz on yet?
When I first started to read about Google Buzz the very first thought that came into my mind was:
Where the heck am I going to find the time to add another social media anything to my schedule?
I shrugged it off as just another thing to add to my 'To Do' list.
But then when I saw my little Buzz icon on the top left of my Gmail account, I thought, "Ah, it will only take a moment to take a peek."
That one peek turned into a session of learning about the Buzz, what the benefits are and how I can implement into actually making my social media networking more streamlined and more efficient.
I am a multi-tasker when it comes to social media and blogging.
Google Buzz is making it all that much easier for me to reach my followers in a more personal way.
There is a lot of potential for Realtors® to reach farther into their SOIs through Google Buzz.
As soon as I updated my account I discovered that even our sellers are following me which is something they are not doing on Twitter.
Here are some of the actions that will benefit users of Google Buzz:
- It sits right on your Gmail page.
- When someone comments to you- it shows up in your Gmail inbox so you won't miss out on any followers sending you links or making a comment.
- You can email your entries ( we will call them mini posts) fast and easy.
- When you send your Buzz as an email, there is a link that shows up that either the recipient can read the Buzz you sent or they can click on the link to read it and comment back on the Buzz.
- The Buzz will follow the comment stream.
- Google Buzz makes suggestions to you about things you may like based on who you follow and what they are doing or watching or writing.
- You can use it on your phone! Very cool!
- You can post video and photos very easily.
- Google Buzz will put your Twitter stream in, Picassa, Youtube, Google Reader and Flickr right into your Google Buzz.
- You can view photos thumbnails in each post but also browse full screen photos from Flickr and Picassa. This is a great way to showcase your new listings!
- You never need to refresh your page.
- You can choose between sharing publicly or privately.
- No set up is needed to get started and you automatically are following the people you email and chat with.
You should have a Google Profile page. It is about time to get that task checked off your list.
Follow me on Google Buzz! I am @Katerina Gasset.
And Now- To Bring You Back To 1967- I can't get this song out of my head since I started Buzzing today!
Copyright © 2010 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.*Hey-Hey- What's That Buzz? Everyone Knows What's Going Down!*
Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset- Realtors®, CIPS, ABR, SFR, GRI, REOS
Katerina ~ You are right about not wanting to look into this new "Google Buzz" because of time restraints! But you make it sound so easy and is sounds like it could make life and social media more manageable! I must check it out as well.
Katerina - So only other gmail users can see it? What about your Google profile page? Is that only for users with a Google account? Right now only a small percentage of the people I interact with use gmail. I need a little more convincing.
Hi Katerina..I'm Buzzing for a day now, looking interesting.
Thanks Nestor. Something I have not tried.
From the desk of David Dee,
Katerina, cool stuff! They just keep coming up with some neat tools! Got to look into this. Btw, soothing song. :D
Just set up my Google Buzz this morning. Had about 41 followers and was following 8 - not sure where to; Looks easy enough; I set up my profile, but didn't spend much time looking into how to use it. That's next.
Gail- Get in on the ground floor as they say. You don't have to have a google profile but if you don't, there won't be a photo of you. I just now went on and asked to do a search for Realtors and then I followed them all, then I asked for real estate agents and then followed them all. It is very easy to find people to follow. For me, very few of them were on AR so those are new networking people for me. I am next going to do all the horse people up north and down here, those are a great client for us.
Fred- Follow me:) I did not see you on the list of realtors.
Terrie- I just spent less than 3 minutes setting my account up, there is nothing to do, it is all done for you except for clicking check boxes on if you want your twitter feed to come in. I see people already stop using friendfeed to use Buzz.
Thanks Nestor and Katerina. I've bookmarked your blog so I can remember to give it a try when I'm wider awake.
John- It is the 'new' buzz:) Katerina
David- You are most likely too young to remember Buffalo Springfield:)
Mike- Follow me. Your google profile is your online business card, make sure to use good keywords because it is indexed by google and it does show up in the SERPS. Katerina
Gary- Just go to your gmail account and you will see the buzz icon to the left right under your inbox.
Hi Nestor & Katerina - I will sign up for Google Buzz, thanks for sharing a very good blog.
John
Hi Nestor & Katerina - I will sign up for Google Buzz, thanks for sharing a very good blog.
John
The Buzz looks terrific ... but ... new CRM rebuilt website, new expired program, developing and implementing email drip campaign .... when do i sell real estate?
Well, you sure got things buzzing around here now. Way to go.
Buzz has been getting a lot of press in the last couple of days. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works.
Thanks for the info on the Buzz...I will check it out and sign up!
Hi Katerina,
I just have to do it - I am getting a headache just thinking of my "to-do" list!
Yes, I saw that yesterday.... and I had the same reaction - Like I potentially could do more of a social media overload? But at least I got my Google Profile checked off.
Katerina, I wrote on this one yesterday morning too! I was so excited with the possibilities - I wonder how it will affect how others use FB, or MySpace etc... seems so much easier to use Gmail. We'll see
We got our Buzz on yesterday, but we're still not sure it's of any value. As you stated in your post, the time available to devote to a new social medium is not plentiful. One warning we saw in a business article about Buzz: try not to follow any of the big names in social media, like Robert Scoble or Jason Calcanis, your inbox will quickly fill up with their buzzes and they'll dominate the stream. At least that's the thought. Plus, there's privacy concern with Buzz, not sure if it's a real problem but here's the article about it: http://bit.ly/9hIE7c
Thanks for the "buzz" on Buzz!
UPDATE: Lo and behold, Scoble just posted this on Twitter: "I am sorry for dominating Google Buzz because my items get a lot of people to engage with them. I am working with Google to find a solution." Good ol' Scoble! :-D
Katherine and Nestor,
Great poat and thanks for the buzz lead. This is why we love active rain!
I saw this last night! And skipped it, but thought to myself, Google is at it again! Quite amazing! I'll be getting my buzz on soon! thanks Katerina!
I think we must have both clicked on it after the webinar . . lol
It sounds really great, but before you rush to incorporate BUZZ into your strategy, you may want to read what PC world had to say about it. Here's the link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/188998/the_buzz_about_google_buzz.html?tk=rel_news
The same reaction you had, was the one I had when I saw the "Buzz" show up. However, now, after reading your post, I'm going to give it another look. I have tons of social media items that I can integrate so I'm hoping this will help along those lines. Thanks for the post!
Last night when I logged into my Gmail account, I thought many of the same things you did. But, as I wrap my mind around it, I'm thinking this is one time it's OK to catch a "Buzz"!!!!
By the way, thank you for that Buffalo Springfield video! Stephen Stills is one of the coolest folks I've ever met!
Katerina, I have Buzz, but was more excited about the Buffalo Springfield clip. Thanks for taking me back.
Sounds like something we need to look into - thanks for sharing your thoughts on this new tool!
Katerina - Thanks for spending the time to do this. I was checking it out this morning before I read your post. I see a lot of petential
Ok, I'll check this out. Like you said, at first it just seems like one more thing to put on the to do list!
Thank you for the reminder. I saw it yesterday and "passed" on it of all the things! Lessons Learned.
Thanks for the buzz news. I'll check it out.
I have my GMail acct. set up thru Google Apps. and I dont see the Buzz icon? anyone know why?
I have my GMail acct. set up thru Google Apps. and I dont see the Buzz icon? anyone know why?
Buzz looks like it's going to do some pretty cool things. I'm hoping it will let us handle all of our social media sites from one location sooner or later. Now that would be cool.
Katerina,
Searching for the buzz, I googled it and found this article that talks about the privacy settings. Most of us in AR are pretty good with the Internet, but to the regular gmail user, it should be a concern. This is the link in case you want to read the article.
Tere
I set mine up this morning. I'll look for you when I sign back into gmail again!
I'm all set up. I actually saw the little thingy this morning in my mailbox, clicked on it and thought "oh yeah I have time for yet another one of these".
After reading your post though, I decided, why not? Now I guess I just have to use it.
Thanks again.
On my to do list...
I tried to sign up for the professional email account with Google, can't figure it out. None of my contacts with Google can either.
So frustrating.
Katarina,
I so enjoy your post...always learn something! Time to get Buzzing...........
John- I think you have to go into your google settings and set the mobile version up.
Katerina, hahaaa :-). Frankly, I don't know Buffalo Springfield so you got me there but it does have a soothing sound/beat to it.
It sounds worthwhile to look into, thanks
I signed up for the Buzz yesterday, but need to get up to speed on how to use it better.
I am giving a Buzz a try. SO MUCH TO DO! I am now following you on Buzz!
Guys, I just do not know. Facebook is still not part of it and I do all my emails out of outlook, so this is just more things to open up and do, not less. And again, people have to have a gmail account!
I will have to bookmark this and look into it!! Is this like "wave"?
Renee- No it is not like wave. It is more like Friendfeed but easier to manage and you never have to leave gmail. I am also finding people to follow that I have not met on the other networks. That is a good thing:)
Katrina - thanks for your take. I signed onto it a couple of days ago but using it is still on my todo list. Maybe this will get me onit a bit sooner.
Hmmm, this post must have been in the Active Rain newsletter:) It was not featured and yet lots of comments. So thank you all! I love to read all your comments. I can not always get back to you all but you are always in my thoughts as I work on writing tutorials for AR members.
I just got here on this post and I am now headed to set this up. Katerina thanks for the heads up on this.
I too feel the same as above--who has time but I do have a g-mail account already that I just started to go back and use 2 days ago, so I'll see what's "buzzing". Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the info Katerina, I saw it the other day & skipped over it. I'll now check it out.
Hi Nestor and Katerina, I came back to your blog to see what others were saying about Google Buzz. I can't believe this posted wasn't featured, you have so many comments.
Gary- It was featured in the AR newsletter.
Gary- It was featured in the AR newsletter.
Awesome. I'll be sure to look for you. I always read my Realtor magazines.
Wow, I'm exhausted just thinking about another social media site to keep up with, but your post has alleviated some of my fears. I'm sure I will check it out soon, and when I do, I'll be sure to follow.
Hey there! Greetings from Snowy, freezing Bergen County, NJ!
I'm late for the comments party! Does that mean I'll have the last word???
Katerina...I've learned something from you yet again. (I'm tipping my imaginary hat to you right now.)
I was on a webinar earlier today & saw the curator using G-Chrome, etc...Since I'm such a late comer to all of this "stuff", I wrote down on yet another big post it..."Look into Buzz & Chrome".
Thank you for the little kick in the ass & reminder! I'm glad I took a little "side trip" to Florida before shutting down for the night.
& WOW, One of my favorite springboard bands of the 60's! Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Dave Messina...I even caught David Crosby in that vid & he wasn't an actual member!
Thanks again, ya' know..."For What It's Worth"... ;)
Your friend up north,
Brian
This is good to know. I have a gmail account, but its my secondary account. So, I'll have to give it a try.