Google Buzz was announced in February 2010 as a way for Gmail users to tap into a social use. It was unveiled to privacy concerns requiring a $8.5m settlement. Even once those privacy concerns were fixed Buzz never took off. Google announced over the weekend that it would be shutting down Buzz so it could instead concentrate on Google+.
Google Buzz was not a stand alone social media function and that is probably why it failed, as people were too interested in their Gmail functions to click over onto the Buzz function. The real question for the digital marketing agency is about the future of Google+. Arguably this will prevent distraction and allow Google to focus on Google+ as its only social offering. However it is questionable if Google was recently investing any effort (ANY personnel?) into the Buzz project. The actual effort remains shrouded by Google, but it seems a specious claim.
The removal of Buzz is unlikely to have any impact on Google+. It is nice to think that Google is now focused exclusively on Google+, but if they weren’t before this announcement then what it really does is call into question Google’s thinking. Buzz was that big a loser. If anything, this will be a step back for the digital agency because users will now click within Gmail less often. However, Gmail and Buzz would mix up the occasional ad with web clips, so even the less persistent that change might produce user does not necessarily translate into less ads.