Sure, Buzz is good but Facebook still has the Zuckerberg factor

Interesting post from internet wiseman Robert Scoble aka Scobelizer analysing the Buzz v Facebook debate, in which Scoble claims though Google Buzz has lots of great stuff – it will always lack the Zuckerberg factor.

He looks at the characters of the rival CEOs and thus their companies and how that is carried through in the software they make. In the battle of the CEOs it’s not just business sense and tech know-how that count but personality too, and that’s where Mark Zuckerberg has one over on Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Zuckerberg, Scoble reasons, is a people person who studied psychology as a minor in Harvard. “He studies how people work and how they get addicted to things at a level that Google’s founders struggle to understand”.

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Since he’s in the privileged position of having met all these big boys.. Scoble’s got a little insight into how they function:

“Google’s founders are also not nearly as comfortable around other people as Mark is. Everytime I meet Larry Page or Sergey Brin it’s tough to get them to talk socially. Mark, on the other hand, hugs people and is easier to just hang around and be personable with.”

Yeah, would you want social interaction designed by people like that? Just checked and can’t find either Larry or Sergey on Buzz, maybe that’s good. Scoble mentions picture tags on Facebook as a prime way of drawing people in, something other sites haven’t quite managed to replicate.

Related: Google Buzz: it’s a knock at Facebook and if I have to look at another stream of status updates I’m going to start grinding my teeth again and Google Buzz and Google Wave: what’s the difference and why do we need both

Anna Leach