Of course, we kid, but Google Buzz really was a pretty pathetic attempt at social networking, especially for a company like Google. People picked it up and started playing with it to see what it was like, and then simply dropped it a few minutes later and completely forgot about it, just like a little kid with a short attention span. Sounds an awful lot like what is happening with a current social network that Google is working on, but it’s really not as bad.

In any circumstance, Google announced yesterday that they will be shutting down Buzz and its API to focus more on Google+. They mentioned that “while people obviously won’t be able to create new posts after that, they will be able to view their existing content on their Google Profile.”

It’s not only Google Buzz that’s receiving the axe, but also Jaiku, Google Code Search, iGoogle’s social features, and the University Research Program for Google Search, most of which will officially shut down in January.

Another big service that Google has killed off is Google Labs, which we learned about back in July. The one service that we all love officially shut down yesterday, but it won’t affect any of the Labs add-ons that you’re using. Google didn’t specifically mention how they would publicly test new experiments from now on, but I’m sure they will come up with another method sooner or later.

Here’s what Google had to say about all the changes:

Changing the world takes focus on the future, and honesty about the past. We learned a lot from products like Buzz, and are putting that learning to work every day in our vision for products like Google+.”

The post Google to kill off Google Buzz, Labs goes the way of the dodo first appeared on Techerator.

Thankfully, you can use Gmail’s great filtering feature to either quiet these notifications or make them disappear completely.

Muting Google Buzz Notifications

If you want Google Buzz notifications to appear in your inbox but not increase the amount of unread messages you have, this is the guide you will want to follow.

Step 1: Click Create a filter at the top of Gmail, just to the right of the search bar.

Step 2: In the Has the words: field, enter label:buzz.  To see if it worked, you can click the Test Search button which will immediately show the messages that are affected.  Click Next Step.

Note: Gmail will notify you that you shouldn’t use the label: filter in this field, but it will still work just fine.  Click OK when notified to continue.

Step 3: Check the Mark as read box.  You can also check Also apply filter… to mark additional Buzz messages as read.  Click Create Filter.

You will continue to receive Buzz notifications, but they will automatically be marked as read when they appear in your inbox so you’ll never have an inflated unread messages count.

Hiding Google Buzz Notifications

If you want to use Google Buzz but don’t want to see notifications at all, this guide is for you.

Step 1: Click Create a filter at the top of Gmail, just to the right of the search bar.

Step 2: In the Has the words: field, enter label:buzz.  To see if it worked, you can click the Test Search button which will immediately show the messages that are affected.  Click Next Step.

Note: Gmail will notify you that you shouldn’t use the label: filter in this field, but it will still work just fine.  Click OK when notified to continue.

Step 3: Check the Skip the Inbox and Mark as read buttons.  You can also check Also apply filter… to hide any earlier notifications.

Now when you receive a Buzz notification, it will automatically be marked as read and will also be stored in Gmail’s archive and will not appear at all in your inbox.

Managing Google Buzz Notifications

If you want to still receive Google Buzz notifications but want them to be exclusively separated from the rest of your inbox, this guide is for you. This guide will use the Multiple Inbox feature which is available in Gmail Labs to separate Buzz notifications from the rest of your inbox.

Step 1: Activate Multiple Inboxes in Gmail Labs by clicking Enable then Save changes at the bottom of the list.

Step 2: Click Create a filter at the top of Gmail, just to the right of the search bar.

Step 3: In the Has the words: field, enter label:buzz.  To see if it worked, you can click the Test Search button which will immediately show the messages that are affected.  Click Next Step.

Note: Gmail will notify you that you shouldn’t use the label: filter in this field, but it will still work just fine.  Click OK when notified to continue.

Step 4: Check the Skip the Inbox button.  You can also check Also apply filter… to manage any earlier notifications.

Step 5: Go to Gmail Settings and click the Multiple Inboxes tab.  Enter label:buzz in one of the Search query boxes and you can name it anything you like.  Click Save changes.

Now when you receive a Google Buzz notification, it will only appear in a secondary inbox and not get in the way of your other important messages.

Have any Google Buzz tips?  Share them with us in the comments!

The post How to Manage, Mute, or Complete Hide Google Buzz Notifications in Gmail first appeared on Techerator.

Google Buzz

Google Buzz has had several privacy concerns since its launch last Tuesday, causing many users to try deactivating their Google Buzz accounts (which had been automatically added to Gmail).  Buzz could apparently be disable via the “turn off buzz” link at the bottom of Gmail – but many people quickly realized that this only removed Buzz from Gmail and everything they had done on Buzz was still available via their public Google Profile.

Since the “turn off buzz” button didn’t actually remove any of your content, users were forced to manually delete every Buzz they sent, then systematically unfollow their friends and block their followers to effectively disable Buzz.

Responding to heavy criticism, Google quickly announced they were making changes based on users’ feedback which will include the ability to fully disable your Google Buzz account.  Sometime soon, Google will be adding a Buzz tab to Gmail’s settings which will include option to completely disable Buzz, deleting all of your Buzz posts as well as your Google profile.  You can see this upcoming feature in the screenshot below.

Google announced several other important changes to their Buzz service, with the most important being that the auto-follow feature will be changed to auto-suggest.  The auto-follow feature was a good idea because it made Buzz useful for novice users immediately, but it caused a lot of concern when people were being automatically followed by people they didn’t know (or people they didn’t want following them).

The new auto-suggest feature will instead show a list of recommended users to follow on Buzz – but the following will be left up to the user.  This doesn’t mean someone you don’t like won’t follow you, but it will certainly slow your influx of followers down considerably.

Have you been using Buzz?  Do you think it will take your attention off sites like Twitter and Facebook?  Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

The post Google Announces Upcoming Option to Disable Buzz (for real this time) first appeared on Techerator.