Google moves into social networking with their new social media application called Google Buzz. Buzz is a new way to start conversations right in your Gmail which means no need to seek out a new set of friends from scratch. Buzz utilizes your existing network by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. Buzz is expected to be an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don’t have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates with your existing Gmail inbox, so you’re sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time. There is no applications to download and install. Google is rolling out Buzz to all Gmail user so you can expect to see it in your account very soon.

7 Things You Need to Know About Google Buzz

1. Easy update and sharing of your photos & videos
2. Built right into Gmail, so you will automatically be following your existing network of friends, family and co-workers.
3. You can share your account publicly or privately
4. Connect with more then just your status updates, Buzz will automatically pull images from links, play videos inline and you can even flip through photo seamlessly
5. Buzz let you connect with other sites you use like Picasa, Flickr, Google Reader and Twitter
6. Communicate with friends using the commenting field and respond directly in your inbox
7. Buzz even works on your phone

You are likely asking yourself by now, “What is new about this?” and you would be correct. None of these features are groundbreaking or innovative, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr all serve these features effectively enough.

Will Google Buzz give us sizzle or sadly fizzle?

To learn more visit buzz.google.com

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Saving valuable time with your social media program has become essential. That is why I think this is one of the most exciting announcements that I have heard in a long time and it comes from the recent winner of Mashable’s 2009 Open Web Award for Best Twitter App.

Hootsuite has announced the integration of WordPress. Now you can cross post content between Hootsuite and your WordPress blog. As with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, you can schedule and cross-post content to multiple WordPress accounts.

WordPress.com is the first blog platform officially supported by HootSuite, with support for self-hosted WordPress blogs coming soon. My blog is self-hosted so I am unable to test this new feature out which makes me sad and very anxious for the chance to use it.

As you will see in the video set up is simple and hassle-free. I have set up my Twitter, Facebook and Linked-in accounts using the same interface and it is remarkably quick and simple procedure.

If you are not a current user of Hootsuite then consider these other impressive features:

- Multiple Twitter Accounts
- Schedule Tweets
- RSS/Atom Feeds
- Add your LinkedIn accounts
- Add your Facebook and Fan Page accounts
- Add your Ping.fm account
- Preview links, video and photos in your Twitter stream
- Hootsuite iphone App

Hootsuite is a free, web-based platform with no need to download and install the application. You can get started at www.hootsuite.com

If you do try out the WordPress feature let me know I would love to here your thoughts.

Twitterfeed has announced new upgrades making publishing feeds much faster than before.

1) Pubsubhubbub real-time feed publishing - Twitterfeed now works with Pubsubhubbub. This means that sites enabled with Pubsubhubbub, like Typepad and Blogger sites, will be able to see their posts published in real time. For WordPress users, Twitterfeed willl be announcing support soon for RSScloud so that your sites can also be published in real time.

2) Publish to Facebook - You can now automatically publish to Facebook from Twitterfeed.  You can also see statistics for each post showing you just how many people clicked on posts from Facebook vs those from Twitter. You’ll be able to better understand just where your social media strategy is working.

3) Google Analytics Integration – Twitterfeed now adds special ‘UTM’ tags to each post that it publishes. Google Analytics can read these tags and integrate the information into its reporting. You’ll be able to understand how people clicking on your posts from Facebook differ from those clicking from Twitter and track the complete path of their visit to your site.

For more details go to the Twitterfeed Blog

What in the world is Twitterfeed?

Twitterfeed will automatically feed your blog posts directly to Twitter. So no need to cut and paste the links yourself. Using your RSS feed, Twitterfeed will check your blog as frequently as you choose and post a link to your Twitter page. Twitterfeed will also track the clicks on your link back to your website using your bit.ly account.

It’s a wonder I get any thing done in a day. Are you like me, multi-tasking, trying to get a million things done in a day?

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity for me; seminars, meetings, networking and family obligations. So much so, that when things finally quieted down I got to thinking about time. Where does it go, how can we feel more productive and can we actually slow time down.

Exploring this idea has created many ideas for me in using social media tools. My goal is to not let the tools steal away time, but to help save time. Managing all the activities I do in a day, and tweaking for time-saving, I want to ensure that it is an activity that supports my goals. Using time efficiently will ultimately slow time down or at least feel more productive and not harried by time.

Today’s Activity: Time Saving Tip for Google Reader (RSS feeds)

I am a RSS junky. I find either an interesting article or site, and “bam” I subscribe. The downside to my compulsion to RSS subscribing is managing all the content, of course Google Reader is brilliant for this. For me I love to hourd knowledge, in fact, if I could download “how to do…” in 3 seconds like in The Matrix, that would be brilliant. I digress. I have so many great feeds in my reader that my morning ritual is over my morning coffee to peruse all the headlines. I then share highlights through friendfeed and twitter etc.

Now with my new goal of time-saving, I realized that visiting my Google Reader page was not as effecient as it could be. It occured to me that I could add Google Reader to my iGoogle. I now I can quickly go through the headlines, and there is a nifty pop-up window with the full content that allows me to skim/read the article. I can also quickly share it out to my social media sphere. I am certain I have just saved at least 5 minutes in my usual 15 minute news gathering period.

If you don’t have Google Reader
If you don’t use iGoogle
I use the Mozilla Firefox browser

Update: Just when I was loving my iGoogle reader, I read, in my RSS feed of course, that a new add-on for Firefox called Integrated Gmail just came out. This app has taken Google Reader and Google Calendar and integrated it into your Gmail. OH BOY! Knowledge and scheduling and contacts all in one place. This definitely works in to my goal of staying organized. I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet, but I will let you know if it will be replacing my iGoogle Reader for my RSS feeds.