When Google introduced their own social network, Google Buzz, they gave it that name because they thought it would create a Buzz of excitement in the social networking world. Instead, "Buzz" stands for the buzz of criticism and the world of hurt that Google is in for putting their vast network of users into information security jeopardy.

Well just because Buzz opens up your contacts list, your location and everything about you to the wide world of the internet, does that mean that people have a right to be mad? You bet it does and Google has had to act fast because the complaints have almost buried even this internet industry giant. So Google did the one thing they thought would make everything ok. They apologized. So can compromising your security be fixed just because Google apologized for it? In a word – NOPE!

You would think that Google would have learned a thing or two from Facebook and Twitter who they are trying to compete against. In those networks, your friends list don’t automatically get connected with every new contact you make. That would be a nightmare.

Well, that is the exact kind of nightmare that Google threw themselves into not only opening their users contacts to everyone but automatically adding users to Buzz just because people used Gmail, whether they wanted to be on Buzz or not. Gee Google, that is a good way to kill two birds with one stone if the birds you want dead are Google Buzz and Gmail.

Ok, well to be fair, Google is scrambling to fix things so they didn’t think that just a well meaning apology would do the trick entirely. Within days after Buzz hit cyberspace, Google was busy altering it to put the security in place that should have been there all along. Already they have changed the process of adding contacts so that users see suggested contacts but they have to take action to add people to their social network.

With a few more tweaks, maybe Google will be able to make Buzz a safe social networking tool that lives up to the standards set by Facebook and Twitter. Of course that won’t answer the question of why anyone would want to switch to Buzz when his or her existing social networks are just fine. And with a demonstrated ability by Google to mess things up, that question may be answered by most people who say, "why bother?"