Buzz, meant to be Google’s answer to Facebook and Twitter, takes communicating with friends to a new level by integrating location services with it. However, Buzz still needs some tweaking to make it fully functional and more user-friendly. Buzz even brings all of those ideas to the mobile community on both the iPhone and Android platforms, making it a powerful tool for getting around and finding one’s friends. What makes these mobile apps so successful in keeping people connected?

Buzz came along and upstaged Google’s own location based Latitude service. Many users prefer the fact that Buzz does not always run in the background as Latitude does. This grants them greater privacy by allowing them to check in with friends rather than have everyone in the social group know where they are at all times. Like Foursquare and Gowalla, Buzz lets the user tell it where and when a location is sent out, making it simpler to use in finding one’s way around. To check-in, the user of the service presses a button on the device, and his or her location is transmitted to the others in the group, giving each control of when to display information.

This checking-in concept is built into Buzz for the mobile devices. Users buzz from the device and are allowed to tag the buzz, attaching it to a place while sending the information to friends. By giving people the opportunity to check in in this way, the services function better for transmitting location. Rather than giving out coordinates of where someone is, which are meaningless to many people, check-in services feature an option whereby the user can select an exact place, sending its name in the message to those he or she wishes to meet there. Maps provided by Google enable Buzz users to search for and find directions to the locations provided by friends, making the more efficient in getting there and giving the groups more time to catch up with one another.

Current users find Buzz to be a much better check-in and location service than social network. Many suggest using it as an Android and iPhone app for finding locations, perhaps linking it to people’s Google profiles. By doing so, Google would more easily add in the desired social feature needed to connect groups of friends before they meet in person. Unfortunately, Buzz does a better job of sharing information within Google’s Gmail so their internal users connect rather than reaching out to other networks and bringing together more of the world.

Thus, one can see how Buzz tries to rival other social sharing networks. Although it does well in the mobile market among Android and iPhone fans, Google needs to bring Buzz to other platforms and the point where people can socialize and discuss plans as well as looking up venues on maps. Until those changes come about, users will have to be content with checking in and meeting up with friends much as they would use a GPS tool.