Privacy Complaints Force Google Buzz Redesign

With the release of Buzz last week, you would think that Google would be on a high. Unfortunately the release of their new social networking application hasn’t gone as smoothly as they had hoped. The service has had to undergo a redesign already after a variety of complaints about the applications privacy policy.

The issue arose thanks to the feature which allowed users to create a ready-made circle of friends based on your most frequent email and chat contacts in Gmail. Users generally took exception to the fact that it made public personal information about who you email the most. Google also overlooked the fact that while people might email work contacts regularly, the might not want them as part of their online social circle. There was also the problem that users of Gmail where automatically joined to it.

However it remains clear that the major issue was with privacy and Google moved quickly to rectify the problems while also issuing an apology to Buzz and Gmail users. Buzz will now only recommend who users might like to include as friends and Gmail users now have a tab in the email facility making it easier to turn off Buzz.

The first week hasn’t been an easy one for Buzz. These last issues added to the mass of negative feedback already, suggests that Google’s foray into social networking hasn’t gone as smoothly as intended. It remains to be seen whether things will get better for the service or it will just fade into mediocrity. Let us know what you think by posting your views on Google’s service here.

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