Sometimes, it's just safer.

There I was minding my own business, just checking out my email and then wham! I lose 1hr of my working day trying to sort out what Google Buzz is all about.

It’s my own fault: if there’s something new to be added or downloaded I just can’t resist it. And there it was. The “Add Google Buzz to your Google Mail?” opt-in, or words to that effect (I accepted it so quickly I didn’t read it for too long).

Suddenly I was thrown into a world I didn’t understand and compelled to immerse myself in a privacy controversy I didn’t want to understand on a Thursday morning at 08:30 am!

But there it was. Google Buzz, the nice shiny new pretender to the Twitter/Facebook social networking gods. A bit like Google Wave but available today.

Google Buzz even suggested a few people I might like to follow. Nobody I’ve sent emails to in the past but that I am following on Twitter (@bluesnapper) which is where I think it got the connection. Go on then, while I’m here I may as well dip my toe in the water and follow a couple of people I know and trust : @dannysullivan and @mattcutts. That’s when the trouble started.

Matt Cutts first buzz was ‘Mmm. Buzzy goodness.’ and why not,  he is after all a Google employee. But it was a buzz from Danny Sullivan from searchengineland that got my attention: ‘WARNING: Google Buzz Has A Huge Privacy Flaw‘ . Cue frenzied surfing.

The best I found was Google Buzz: The Good, Bad, & Ugly Reactions and Google Buzz: Privacy nightmare.

Then I started to get all these people following me that I didn’t know. OK, no different to Twitter but I was in my email – it didn’t feel quite right; I felt a loss of control. Anyway, by now I had the Buzz jitters so I started reaching for my bacofoil helmet. That was when I decided to switch off Google Buzz; at least for the time being. You can too. Just go to the footer of your Google Mail account where it’s hidden:

So is Buzz a cynical move by Google, an annoying distraction or great way to communicate and share rich media content? Either way, I’m wearing my bacofoil for just a bit longer while I look into it more.

What are your views on Google Buzz? Drop me a comment.