14 DAY TRIAL // Google launched Buzz with a good helping of hype, hope and good faith, but what followed wasn't exactly what the company had in mind. A couple of rushed decisions made Google Buzz a privacy nightmare and most of the harm had been done by the time developers scrambled to fix the issues and make the necessary changes. And the changes also did little for the ones who started using it in the very first few days. This is what Google is now trying to rectify with a notification going out to all early adopters asking them to look over the settings once more.
"Shortly after launching Google Buzz, we quickly realized we didn't get everything right and moved as fast as possible to improve the Buzz experience... Rather than automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with most, Google Buzz now suggests people for you to follow instead," Todd Jackson, product manager for Google Buzz, said.
"But many of you started using Google Buzz before we made these changes, and we want to help you ensure that Buzz is set up the way you want. Offering everyone who uses our products transparency and control is very important to us, so if you started using Google Buzz before we changed the start-up experience, you'll see the following confirmation page [image on the left] the next time you click into the Buzz tab," he announced.
The new notification page lists the people you’re following, as well as other information relevant to your Google Buzz privacy. You can quickly unfollow people you don't want or whom may have been added automatically. You can also see the users who are following you and you can choose whether to display on your Google profile the individuals you follow and the ones following you. Finally, the page gives you links to other areas where you can modify privacy-related settings.