User feedback builds a better Google Buzz

Google buzz clears up some of the fuzz
Google buzz clears up some of the fuzz

Google Buzz isn't even out of nappies yet and already Google has improved many of the social-networking service's features.

Google has filtered out all the feedback/criticism it has had since launching Buzz and tweaked the way it does things.

In a blog post, the internet giant has outlined a number of new additions to the service, explaining: "We designed Buzz to make it easy to connect with others and have conversations about things that interest you, and it's great to see millions of you doing this already.

"It's still early, and we have a long list of improvements on the way… we will continue to improve the Buzz experience with user transparency and control top of mind."

Some of the new features are listed below:

  • More control Improvements include the ability to control who sees who you follow – a bugbear for many. All that's been included is a little tick box, but this does mean you can hide your lists from public view.
  • Block people Just like Twitter, you can now block a person from following you. This is easily done by clicking on the new block button on your follower list.
  • Public and private There's now better clarity in seeing which people who are following you have a public profile. It is only when they create a public profile will they be added to your followers list.

The tweaks made are minor but will appease the majority of those who are using the service. And there are a lot of you – with Google noting that 9 million posts and comments have been made, with 200 posts a minute happening from mobiles all over the world.

That's one big data cloud for the Google bots to mine.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.