There has been a lot of talk about Google Buzz, and most of it negative!

But, most of this conversation has been around the desktop and Gmail based version of Buzz.

What about the mobile version??

When you get mobile buzz working..things start to make more sense!

Mike Elgan gives his perspective on Google Buzz for mobile and and refers to it as ‘The other Buzz” Mike points out that features like “near me now” and “explore right here” are potential game changes for mobile searhc and discover..and we tend to agree.

It is no secret that we are fans of the thinking behind applications like Foursquare, and how it could drive development in locaiton based services and game mechanics, to the point of changing how we seek, discover and decide. Google Buzz for mobile might just be the next giant step in this direction.

These features along with the GPS capability and Twitter-like posting, have the potential to bring what is buzzing to the palm of your hand!

As Elgan points out, “A button just above the message area lists all the businesses nearby, also listed by proximity. You can choose the restaurant or store you’re at, or choose the “best available location” option. That’s powerful, because GPS is only approximate.”

Where Google Buzz will really start to make sense is when more and more people start to use the service.  Google has a natural advantage over services like Twitter and Foursquare, in that you do need to have ‘friends or ‘followers’ to harness the benefits of the mobile version of Buzz.

Even better, you do not need to have, nor access a gmail account to use Google Buzz from your mobile?

As we have started promoting the benefits of Foursquare to business, and promoting them using a clever Yahoo Pipe, we see great benefit for businesses embracing Google Buzz.

Given buzz captures real time, location based ‘chatter’ about a particular business, then business has an interest to be embracing the technology and ensuring people are having ‘conversations’ about their business! For those businesses that rely on walk in traffic, Google Buzz may be the virtual turnstile they desire if used properly.  For example, businesses who follow the buzz closely, can offer real time specials, and traffic sensitive pricing to attract and the right audience.

These are the applications we get excited about – we call this Real Time Brand Messaging (RTBM) which we believe is the Holy Grail for any social brand.

What are your thoughts about Google Buzz for mobile..what are the uses you see for the application?

At the end of 2009, Google (and Bing) agreed to  integrate tweets into keyword related Google searches. In January 2010, Google integrated real-time search technology to surface blog posts and news content as they hit the Web – dramatically improving the previous time it would its spiders would take to crawl the Web.

This move by Google is a step closer to the real-real time web.

As Brian Solis writes in his excellent article on The Human Algorithm; “this represents some notable deficiencies” – most specifically, the ‘firehose’ effect, or information overload.

As with the opportunity that exists for digital curators, there exists another opportunity for the real time and semantic web; the opportunity for digital intuition, as Brian calls it.  Examples of digital intuition are alive and well thanks to groups like My6Sense – whose service helps to “read and share your most relevant content” – hallelulah!

However, who decides what is the most ACCURATE content.  Relevance is good, ACCURACY is BETTER.

Google’s approach to this is based on the page rank system they have developed over the years.  Effectively, they believe that if you have lots of followers, and your message is heard by many, then this deserves a higher ranking and therefore your content is more likely to be indexed by Google, real time.

But is this true?

Is influence necessarily ALL about reach (followers, connections etc), or is it more about RESPONSE?

By response, we mean that your messages (whatever form they may take), illicit a response from your target audience – good or bad.  In years passed, we called this ‘lives changed’

We believe that RESPONSE is more important that reach. This is where social media has the opportunity to extend and improve upon the metrics and measurement we have come to accept over the years with tools like Google Analytics, where ‘visitors’ and ‘page views’ have become the language we use to explain traffic.  These numbers are great for measuring reach, but what effect is this content/application having on the reader?

Monitoring social networks, and using the right tools now allows us to record and respond to such activities as ‘retweets’ and ‘replies’ – we can observe and participate in real time conversations?

Aren’t these conversations more important that how many people are hearing your message?

We think they are; come on Google, we think it is time to evolve the ‘algorithm of influence’ beyond simple ‘traffic’ and ‘volume’

As Brian Solis comments; “Perhaps the next iterations of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) will focus on enhancing the link structures of human relationships to escalate the prominence of our stature and the social objects we create and share.”

It seems fitting on Australia Day that as a social brand agency, we should ask the question “what does brand Australia mean to you?”

By brand Australia we mean; what does Australia stand for, what are the redeeming features and characteristics of Australia?

What does it mean to be Australian?

Earlier this year, the brand Australia Council (a Government body entrusted with building Australia’s brand) was formed;

Building Brand Australia is a four-year program designed to refine and update Australia’s image in preparation for global opportunities and challenges over the coming years. Protecting and enhancing a nation’s reputation is an essential part of any Government’s role.

From our perspective – this was a positive move, after becoming a little frustrated with the efforts of Tourism Australia to attract more visitors; which always seem to be based on the same virtues sun, surf and sex. We even considered submitting a tender for the brand Australia campaign.  What gave us confidence was when we spoke with brand Mavens like Richard Sauerman (The Brand Guy), who had worked on previous brand Australia campaigns; it became clear that Australia is so much more!  What about space and freedom and nature and progress?

To us, Australia is more than sun, surf and sex…yet we never seem to capture the true essence of Brand Australia?

Today, being Australia Day, there has been several ‘Brand Australia’ stories that have caught our attention;

• The debate over whether we should change the Australian flag?
• Discussion about our National Anthem and whether it should be changed?
• Continuing debate about Australia’s future as a Republic or a Monarchy?

Even Google generated some controversy about what is brand Australia, with its revision of the winning Australia Day logo created by Jessie Du, where Google removed the Aboriginal flag from the original design?

The altered Google logo - courtesy of www.smh.com.au

These same topics of conversation appear every Australia Day it seems, with no sign of consensus being reached.

To witness interviews with Australia Day award winners, like Ray Martin and Don Burke, or Australian of the Year, Professor Patrick McGorry one cannot help but sense the pride these people have in being Australian.  They are clear about what it means to be Australian.

Personally, we would like to take a more social approach to understanding brand Australia;

• talk to those who have never been to Australia – ask them what they think of when they hear Australia
• talk to those who have been to Australia over the last 10 years; ask them what has changed, and whether it altered their perception?
• ask as many Australians as possible to submit words, stories, artefacts, images and icons that best represent Australia

So what is brand Australia?

What does it mean to be Australian to you, and what are the essential elements of the Australian brand?

Is Australia Day the right time to discuss brand Australia?