For those of you stuck under a rock or on Bing, you might have missed the release of Google Buzz. Google Buzz is another status report/micro-blogging system like Twitter but for Google. Google gives you no choice but to use Buzz if you have a Gmail account. You’ll have to privatize your Buzzes and Google Profile if you don’t want your Google information to be see by billions.

There really isn’t much to say about Google Buzz other than it’s a Twitter knock-off and it’s kind of annoying. I’ve been using it for a few days now and I’m following my friends (who never post anything) and some tech people. When someone Buzzes that is internet famous, their Buzzes are lost in a sea of comments… I have probably 5 new Buzzes but it takes me 20 minutes to scroll through the garbage to read those Buzzes. Plus, now there is a popularity contest going on with Buzzers to get the most followers… random people are trying to follow me and they’re all boring!! Just because you have 1,200 followers in the first week of the release of Google Buzz doesn’t mean you are interesting.

Oh yeah, did I mention you can link your Buzz account to Twitter… blah.

The only good things to come out of this mess is that your Buzzers can be public, so when you Google your name the Buzzes show in the searches. That’s about it. So, I say to you reader(s), harness your Google Profile and make it worth using Buzz.

My Google Buzzes

My Google Profile

Let me know what you think and I might change my mind about Google Buzz.

Now, Seesmic has just released a downloadable new app for Windows called Seesmic Look. This app is based on Windows’ Silverlight technology, so OS X users can not use this Application. So far, the app is very pretty but definitely geared toward the simple consumer and computer user. If you like advance searches and trend seeking, then this isn’t going to work every well. But this app looks great for the simple computer user to understand Twitter and the information out in the world. The great thing is that the a user won’t need a twitter account to use this application.

There are a few not-so-great things about Seesmic Look. The application is Windows only… I’m a OS X fanboy, so I won’t be using it very often. The interface is too flashy and load time is slow, and there is no advanced trend options. Lastly, the launch and app seems like a very large branding commercial for Microsoft and all the people on the “channel” area on the application.

We’ll see how this goes and the updates to come. Look through my past posts and there are better solutions for Twitter management like Gist, HootSuite, or Brizzly.

These options range from free to subscription based services but the starting costs is much lower than the current costs of word-processing programs. These programs are compatible with your current documents and a couple will allow to save to different formats that you can export (download) to your computer. The documents that you create and edit are kept in your personal account on the site, so there is no worry of your computer crashing and losing all the informations because the information is on servers far away ready to be accessed. Most of these servers have 99.9% uptime, so don’t worry about servers crashing. You will need to have high-speed Internet to access these files and edit them but, as stated above, Internet is ubiquitous.

First, I’ll discuss my personal favorite , Google Docs. Now this was created by the search engine giant and maintained by the Google Corporation. OK, I am a Google fan boy, but they do offer great products and services. Google Docs is free to use and handles all Microsoft Word documents. They offer creation and editing of documents, excel sheets, presentations, and forms(Access). For the price of ‘FREE’ you can share the documents via email or Google accounts and also collaborate on documents. The document creation is basic and doesn’t offer advanced document creation like borders or graphic art, but it gets the job done. Try it out for yourself!

Next, let’s talk about the Adobe Acrobat web application, Acrobat.com. This is about the same as the Google Docs word processing by creating and editing new documents and offering the option to share and collaborate with other authors, but with Adobe Acrobat.com you can create PDFs. It is a subscription based service but Adobe offers PDF creation, web conferencing, presentation creation, form creation, but no excel sheets. It’s very clean and the collaboration factor is very image oriented, so it’s much prettier to look at for longer time. Try it for yourself!

Lastly, the big web application company Zoho offers great options. It’s not free after a set amount of users (or space) but you get access to a lot of other applications. Zoho has a great user interface for word processing and sharing is easy just like the other options, so it’s really based on preference. What sets Zoho apart is the other applications offered by Zoho can be accessed under one login. Some are free and some are subscription based, but its very worth it if you need the option of the whole complete package. The down side is that you will start paying sooner or later if you use the applications enough. So, if you need to word process, create reports, CRM, and add a Wiki to your work; then this is the place for you! Try it out!

Overall, each option offers their pros and cons for using the web application, and it’s really up to preference. If you want to carry you office your laptop bag with no worries of cost and losing information, then one of these options could be right for you!

Let me know what you think by email or leaving a comment. If there are other options that you want me to review or discuss just let me know.

1. Facebook App : Facebook did a great job on this iPhone app. It simple and gets the job done. You can update your status all day and manage your profile in the simple to use app. Check it out here.
2. Gist App : After my review of Gist. in a previous article, you know I really enjoy their web app. So, it’s at no surprise that I would recommend their iPhone App. The ‘importance‘ feature let me quickly control the list of people/companies on the feed from an importance ranking from 1 to 100. I can narrow down to just tweets, emails, or blogs. It’s very similar to the web app, so it pretty awesome! Check is out here.
3. Twitterific App : Iconfactory made another pretty app that is simple and to the point. Twitterific only works with Twitter and gives you the power to manage your contacts, tweets, and feed. They did add a geo tracking feature that lets you view tweets near your iPhone geo location. Check it out here.
4. Skype App : This is basically the Skype desktop application in the palm of your hand. Chat and voice is allowed through the app and it works on 3G. I recommend this if you are working on the go. Check it out here.
5. Wordpress 2 App : For all of you using Wordpress 2.7+ or a Wordpress.com account for blogging, then this is the way to go! Create new posts, edit old posts, and review comments on your iPhone. Nothing beats that! I do recommend not using the app when writing any longer than a paragraph. Check it out here.

So, there you have it, my top iPhone apps for managing your social media on the go.  If you have any other apps you want to recommend just comment on this post or email me. Let me know what you think!