A week or so ago I got a notification in Google Reader that Sian was following me. I’m following her and Michael now despite that fact that I have no clue how I’m supposed to follow anyone (I could only do it after it gave me the option because they followed me).
So I thought maybe it’s that Google Buzz thing so I went there and that took me to my Gmail and there’s some new option. Now I’m getting emails from Google Buzz and I’m totally confused about this! The thing is, I never use the web version of Gmail because I’ve always had the problem that any mail I sent always appears in my inbox as if I sent it to myself. The obvious response would be that I’m doing something wrong, but if I am I have no idea what it might be.
No, it’s just that Sian and I have been sharing items in Reader for a long time, so we had a head start.
First thing to do is stop Buzz spamming up your gmail with this:
http://www.google.com/buzz/mjdart/bTj4x6FbWMz/Banish-Google-Buzz-Updates-From-Your-Gmail-Inbox
I highly suspect Google will make a change soon so you won’t have to go to these lengths, but until then…
Unfortunately following people in Reader and Buzz means that you get posts duplicated. I’ve found that I can hide someone in Reader and still get their shared items in Buzz, which reduces some of the duplication.
Lastly, the Buzz team have been posting some tips and updates here:
http://www.google.com/profiles/googlebuzz#buzz
Thanks for the tips Michael!
I neglected to mention that all of the links from Buzz don’t seem to work for me, so that first link you gave doesn’t go anywhere. I can google it though :)
Buzz was driving me mad, plus it’s ugly so I disabled it in Gmail. My life is better now.
I realised on reading this that I couldn’t remember how to follow people either.
http://www.google.com.au/reader/view/?tab=my#friends-manager-page
I went to “people you follow” and then at the bottom of that is something called ‘sharing settings’, although confusingly it’s got a whole lot of what I thought was buzz data there (I guess it’s just my groups and things). Either way, you can find people by email address if they’re sharing stuff publically.
I started using it.. If only for science! No one follows me though (douy77@gmail.com if anyone is interested) :P
I added ya Doug, where’s my confirmation???