14 DAY TRIAL // Google Buzz has been out just a couple of days now and it's off to a good start clearly helped by its integration with Gmail. The company says millions of people have checked out Buzz already and have created over 9 million posts or comments. But there have been some privacy concerns too, rightly so it would seem as Google has already made some changes to address them. Clearly, Google is very aware of just how much is riding on Buzz.
"[T]here's been concern from some people who thought their contacts were being made public without their knowledge (in particular the lists of people they follow, and the people following them). In addition, others felt they had too little control over who could follow them and were upset that they lacked the ability to block people who didn't yet have public profiles from following them," Todd Jackson, product manager, Gmail and Google Buzz, wrote.
Buzz already had the functionality people complained about, setting your list of followers and the people you follow private and also blocking unwanted follow requests. Most people though weren't aware and the interface didn't make it any easier to find the settings you wanted. That has now changed and the appropriate settings are currently prominently placed.
The first change was adding a checkbox to the profile editor section to make your list of followers and the ones you're following public. It's still checked by default, but it's a little hard to miss unless you're really in a hurry when setting up the account. The profile editor shows up when you set up your Buzz account for the first time, but it can also be accessed later.
The second change enables users to block anyone they don't want to follow them regardless if they have a public profile or not. Previously, the block link was only available on a user’s profile, so no profile meant no ability to block. Google added a block link to the list of people following you to keep out anyone you don't want to know what you're up to. Finally, Buzz makes it clearer which of your followers have set up a public profile and which don't. Google is clearly listening very carefully to the feedback and the public reaction and the fact that it already fixed some of the issues should indicate that the company knows this may be its last big chance to create a truly popular social web service.