Image: www.google.com/buzz

Google’s Gmail has joined the social midst of Facebook and Twitter with the introduction of Google “Buzz”.The social networking add-on Google Buzz, directly accessible from the Gmail main menu has been hailed by director of product management, Bradley Harowitz, as being the beacon in an environment where “…it’s becoming harder to make sense and fiond the signal in the noise…” of the social networking phenomenon.

The core difference of Google’s spin on its Facebook and Twitter counterparts is the option of specifying posted text, links, photos and videos as either public and/or private, with ‘relevant’ posts by others being flagged on your browser. Once logged in on your browser, updates are pushed directly to your status page, automatically identifies your other Gmail and chat contacts, who, in the likes of Twitter, you can then “follow”, receiving updates an any new posts and status updates in the (near-to) real-time in the “Buzz Tab”.

Further development of the Buzz service includes an enterprise version for a more professional take on online networking and socializing and, of course, browser-based apps of all shapes and sizes for mobile convergence (with the additional spin of geotagging via Google Maps), as well as it’s integration into the social networking and info-sharing abyss that is Google Wave.

Whether the introduction of Buzz will put a real dent in the usage of its Tweetbook rivals, or merely become another drop in the social networking ocean is yet to be seen. Nonetheless, Google is hailing it as the next big thing since the launch of its search engine in 1997;  ‘follow’ it yourself here.