BLACK GADGET

I use Google for damn near everything: email, search, RSS, calendar, docs and chat, but I draw the line at Buzz. It’s great that Google wants to streamline my online experience by adding a social media element to tie together all of the other G-related applications I use on a daily basis, but relying on one experience seems so boring, if not counterintuitive to the very nature of what Google claims to represent – the possibilities of the Internet.

One of the reasons why MySpace can’t compete with Facebook is because it’s a single possibility contained within itself, while the creators of Facebook realize that there are other tools people use to communicate on the Web, so they integrate those tools into their application. Whether you’re blogging on WordPress, tweeting from Twitter, watching movies on Vimeo, listening to music on Pandora, or playing games on your PS3, all of those independent channels can be funneled through one channel, allowing the user to collect a variety of different viewpoints and experiences in one place.

I believe that our behavior on the Web closely mirrors the way we behave in real life. I don’t own clothes by just one label, I don’t eat food at just one restaurant, and I don’t get all of my information from just one source. I’m sure there are people out there who want the complete Google experience. All issues of privacy aside, I’d still rather continue to explore the possibilities of the Internet. I’d rather create my own experience.

How do you create yours?

[ Image taken from a 2008 SiteBoat article on Google services.]