Google have come clean about the flaws in its testing of Google Buzz before releasing it last week.
Speaking to the BBC Todd Jackson - product manager for Google Buzz – stated that Google had been ‘testing Buzz internally for a while’ and admits that ‘getting feedback from 20,000 Googlers isn’t quite the same as letting Gmail users play with Buzz in the wild.’
Since its introduction on the 9th of February Google have come a under fire regarding privacy on their new social venture and have since been desperately trying to resolve.
The problems included the fact that Google automatically gives the user a network of friends based upon people that they contact regularly using their Gmail account. To top this, the list of people you follow was also made public allowing anyone to see who you are in contact with on a regular basis. As BBC states in the article this could cause major problems for journalists and people who are having an illicit affair as well as helping people acquire contact information which should otherwise always remain under wraps.
Tough week - Privacy issues have given Google headaches
Mr. Jackson does go onto say that Google are ‘working extremely hard to fix [the problem]’ and that Google is “very, very sorry”.
It has without a doubt been a tough week for Google, and Google Buzz could possibly go down as one of the worst product launches in the webs history due to the large coverage it is receiving – not ideal when you are making big steps into a new market…