Google Buzz Kickstarts Privacy Backlash Trends for 2010

Google Buzz may have had a lot of expectations attached to it, as Google attempted yet again to make its existing apps more social. Unfortunately for Google, the company saw a great deal of immediate backlash from the sharing process around Google Buzz. Apparently the socialization around your email contacts isn’t something most people want automated. Fancy that.

Google was quick to respond to the backlash, changing the process for auto-follow and recommendations just days after launching Google Buzz to the public. Yet the level of backlash Google Buzz received only reminds us of consumer influence and the way in which companies need to consider consumer privacy and needs before releasing certain features and functionality.

Admittedly, I only used Google Buzz for a short while after its launch, primarily responding to comments others left on my Buzzed content. I like the concept, especially as I already use Gmail for work-related communication on a daily basis, bookmarking, scheduling, managing my Twitter, and just about everything else you can possibly think of. And I didn’t mind the auto-follow process, as I already used Google Reader and Gchat to such an extent that the people active in my Google Buzz were the people I already corresponded with on a regular enough basis.

Yet I can understand how the automated process would bother others, and even myself in the long run. Even with all the things about Google Buzz that I liked or didn’t mind, I still haven’t gone back to use it since its launch. And now that the auto-follow standards have changed, I see even less activity in my Google Buzz as it pertains to things and people I’m interested in.

I’m sure the whole “auto” thing was something Google was really banking on for the adopted use of Google Buzz, but things don’t work that easily when it comes to the social sharing of content. Many of your Gmail connections weren’t selected or approved of as “friends,” but as people you communicate with on a relatively regular basis. Perhaps it’s more difficult than we thought to create a social network around these kinds of contacts.

I expect the privacy backlash to become even more of a concern as we move forward with various social networking initiatives. Companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter are destined to push their boundaries, testing the consumer to see where the line is drawn. Consumers will, in turn, push back when they feel they’re being violated. We may never reach a happy medium, but instances such as the one we saw with Google Buzz indicates that consumers are beginning to pay attention once again to their social networking privacy standards.