Google Buzz

Spooking Flipboard: Yahoo’s Livestand — Followed by Google’s Propeller — Set to Launch Next Week

Kara Swisher in Media on October 28, 2011 at 5:35 am PT

Memo to Flipboard, Pulse, CNN’s Zite and AOL’s Editions: You might want to make some room in the crowded news and social reader space — you’re about to get some bigfoot company.

Google Will Finally Shut Down Google Buzz

Liz Gannes in Social on October 14, 2011 at 10:19 am PT

Google will finally shut down Google Buzz, its non-starter Gmail-based social network that paved the way for the more promising Google+.

By the Numbers: Google+ the Biggest Social Network Launch Ever?

Liz Gannes in Social on July 15, 2011 at 7:02 am PT

Two-week-old Google+ has 10 million users, Google CEO Larry Page announced yesterday. That’s an enormous number, and makes it likely that Google+ has had the fastest out-of-the-gate velocity of any social network ever. Let’s parse what that means.

Say You, Say (Google) Me–When Will the Search Giant Get Social Graces?

Kara Swisher in News on August 25, 2010 at 8:16 am PT

We all want to be something else, don’t we? And so it is with Google, the robotic, algorithmic, black-box search behemoth girding the globe with datacenters stacked up to heaven. As it turns out, all it really wants is to be our friend. The big question is when it is going to do that, by introducing a social strategy that actually works, even as perceived rival Facebook barrels ahead.

Is “Google Me” Real? “I Won’t Say,” Says Eric Schmidt.

Peter Kafka in Media on July 2, 2010 at 4:23 am PT

The Google CEO refuses to deny he’s got a team building a home-grown Facebook. Which doesn’t mean he does! But it is interesting.

Is "Google Me" Real? "I Won't Say," Says Eric Schmidt.

Peter Kafka in Media on July 2, 2010 at 4:23 am PT

The Google CEO refuses to deny he’s got a team building a home-grown Facebook. Which doesn’t mean he does! But it is interesting.

Voices

Almost Famous: Chris Messina of Google

Drake Martinet, Intern, All Things Digital in News on March 26, 2010 at 1:09 pm PT

In this installment of “Almost Famous,” which we call “Need to Know,” focusing on less prominent but very important tech execs you need to know better, we did an interview with Chris Messina. He’s a recent get by Google who is all about opening the Web. He’s a designer by training, so be ready for all kinds of visual metaphors, like walled gardens, tearing down silos and keeping the Web from looking like Nascar.

What Is Cisco Announcing This Morning to "Forever Change the Internet"? A Foursquare-Enabled Jet Pack?

Kara Swisher in News on March 9, 2010 at 5:15 am PT

Bright and early this morning at 8 am PT, BoomTown will be jacked into the matrix for an invitation-only media and analyst briefing to hear exactly what the heck Cisco has been yammering on about of late. Last month, the networking giant said in a mysterioso email that it would be making “a significant announcement that will forever change the Internet and its impact on consumers, businesses and governments.” Significant? Forever? It had better be good.

Yahoo Is Trying to Connect to the Social Boom Without Stepping in It Like Google Buzz

Kara Swisher in News on February 24, 2010 at 9:00 am PT

Is there more than one way to skin a social graph? Yesterday, Yahoo took another step in its efforts to play fast catch-up in the social networking arena, by dramatically expanding its relationship with Twitter and integrating the microblogging service broadly throughout its Web site, in much the same way it did recently with Facebook. Some think outsourcing the job to more capable companies is yet another monument to Yahoo’s failure at its own much touted plans to socialize itself. And while this is true to a large extent, BoomTown is not so sure it’s a bad idea, especially compared with the flailing experienced by Google recently from its own attempts to compete with Facebook and Twitter via the rollout of Google Buzz.

Blog Talk Radio Podcast: BoomTown Makes the Only A-List Possible for Me

Kara Swisher in News on February 24, 2010 at 3:00 am PT

Here’s a podcast I did last Friday on a very good show, “The A-List with Jennifer Lindsay,” on Blog Talk Radio. I like podcasts a lot. In this one, Lindsay interviews me about covering the early Internet, including my years on the chain gang covering AOL, as well as my long and checkered career.