Google launched its highly touted Buzz service in February, but it soon became an annoyance that users abandoned. The product was damaged by reports of privacy flaws -- Gmailers were automatically enrolled in Buzz and given followers by default. The follower list, which was public, also happened to be generated based on who users emailed most frequently.
People also began to realize that any Gchat status (usually visible only to those you have selected to chat with before) popped up automatically in the Buzz feeds of anyone they had ever emailed with that also used Buzz. PC World, for one, was quick to instruct readers on exactly how to disable their Buzz accounts, under the (mostly correct) presumption that everyone would want to do this as quickly as possible.
For its perceived exploitation of private information (such as emailing habits) in order to break into the social media sharing network of Twitter and Facebook, Google was even smacked with a privacy lawsuit on February 16. That fiasco has cost them a settlement of $8.5 million -- in retrospect a small price to pay for what seemed at the time to be a potentially costly customer revolt.
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