It has been 34 days since Google launched their social networking / messaging / real time update tool. Google buzz lets you “Start conversations about the things you find interesting”. This sounds awfully familiar. While twitter limits its users with 140 character messages, Buzz gives the user more features. But will it be a hit?

Updates are threaded in conversations so your conversations won’t get buried. You can attach pictures right into Buzz. It connects with other sites (Picasa, Flickr and Twitter). Finally, it lets you break the 140 character limit twitter imposes.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t seen the massive growth and widespread adoption Twitter has. Why does Google fail, even with the extra features? First of all, you need a Google Account, specifically Gmail, to enable Google Buzz. This acts as a barrier for users with other email accounts unwilling to make a switch just for Buzz. Secondly, Google isn’t known as a social media giant – it is synonymous with search.

Google’s Social Media Initiatives

Google has a history of trying to gain a foothold on social media while falling short. It sees that users flock to social media sites on the Internet. A recent report by PCmag cited Facebook as “the most popular online destination among United States users”. It wants in. It just doesn’t know how yet.

For example, prior to its purchase of YouTube, Google offered its video service as an alternative to YouTube. It currently offers Picasa as an alternative to Flickr; Blogspot as an alternative to the multitude of free blogging sites, Google Friend Connect as an alternative to – well, pretty much any social networking site.

With Google’s track record of attempts to penetrate the social media sphere, I think it’s safe to assume that Buzz isn’t a Twitter killer. It’s nice to have for existing Gmail users, but it probably won’t go farther than a commodity in a niche market.