Mike Elgan articulates the Buzz fail and nails it.

“Some aspects of Buzz that should be connected are disconnected. Other aspects that should be separate are joined together. Scattering content makes people feel like their stuff is beyond control […] People aren’t robots. Our preferences are governed by human nature, emotion, anxiety, perception and other illogical influences.

Google is an advertising company. They’re clearly concerned about Twitter and Facebook […] but Buzz reveals that Google doesn’t fully understand what makes Twitter and Facebook appealing to users.

In a world of hyper-complexity, Twitter offers a respite of simplicity. Messages are short. They file into place in a linear, reverse-chronological order. Users have perfect control over whom they follow. Users love Twitter’s minimalism, linearity and control.

In a world of spam, privacy violations and scattered communications, Facebook offers users a closed place to talk about personal things with people they care about.

Buzz offers none of Twitter’s brevity, minimalism, linearity or control, and none of Facebook’s feeling that social interaction takes place in a single, protected space. Buzz has the right list of features. But it just doesn’t feel right.”

Emphasis mine.

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