What is it about something as simple as Google Buzz that has shifted the way people think about online social networking? Years back many of my friends were on Livejournal and posting nearly every day. Then there was a shift to Facebook where we could keep up with one another in short, less intimate status updates. Right around the same time, many folks were signing up for Twitter, which got rid of the rest of the crap on Facebook and just left us with 140 character snippets to express parceled thoughts on a whim. Now we have Google buzz and the reaction is different.

Everyone seems vaguely interested, but slightly hostile towards it and definitely hesitant. Like a dog when you change its food and it approaches slowly from afar sniffing the air. The buzz I’ve been hearing about buzz consists of “how can I keep up with one more thing?” and “Alright, we gotta find a way to combine all this stuff”.

So what has changed folks? Have we just reached a tipping point? If so, why does that point seem to be the same for so many people? Did it just take one person to speak up for others to admit they felt the same way?