5 Awesome Tips To Improve Your Google Buzz Experience

Google Buzz has had a while to settle in now, and it got greeted surprisingly well. Aside from the usual negative commentary, most prominent blogs now flaunt a Google Buzz button, and the updates still visit my inbox in a steady stream.
Google Buzz is still a far way off from the popularity of Facebook and Twitter, and only time will truly show what becomes of it. But for now, if you decide to have fun with Google Buzz, you certainly won’t be playing alone.
Like you, I’m still discovering the possibilities of Google Buzz, and every day brings something new. Below are some of the coolest tips to boost your Google Buzz experience.

1. Disable Google Buzz

So how will turning it off improve your Google Buzz experience? It won’t, really, if you enjoy using it. But the truth is that a lot of people are not waiting for something like Google Buzz. For them, it’s an unwanted feature that has forced itself into their comfort zone. These actually make up the biggest part of the Google Buzz haters. So here’s how to shut it off.

It used to be a lot harder, but you can now just scroll down from your Gmail inbox or Google Buzz overview, and click on ‘turn off buzz’.
Be careful what you do next. Selecting ‘Do not show Google Buzz in Gmail‘ will eliminate the unwanted intrusion, and you can still check Buzz on your cellphone. ‘Disable Google Buzz’ will delete everything connected to Google Buzz, including your Google profile!

2. Filter Buzz From Your Mail

Some Google Buzz messages will end up in your inbox, right between your other correspondence. Although this could be useful to some, a lot of us have bulking inboxes already, and like to keep these things separated. If you want to keep using Buzz, but just not through your inbox, there’s an easy fix.

Create a new filter, and in the ‘Has the words:’ field, add label:buzz. Gmail will warn you that label filters don’t usually work, but rest assured, it does here. On the following screen, check ‘Skip the Inbox (Archive it)’. Et voila!

3. Format a Buzz

At first, Google Buzz doesn’t seem to allow any formatting. But even though the buttons are missing, you can bold, italicise and underline text using formatting tags. Just like in Gmail.
Enclose your text in asterisks to make it *bold*, surround it with underscores or hyphens to make it respectively _italic_ or - striked through -.

4. Send a Buzz Straight To Someone’s Inbox

Want to make sure a certain someone reads your Buzz? That’s easy, assumed they have not appled tip number 2.

In your message, simply use an @reply. Type the at sign (@) and the first letters of their name, and select the email address of your recipient. Your friend will receive the Buzz directly in their inbox.

5. Edit an Active Buzz (With Replies!)

This one passed around the internet in a webcomic by DogHouseDiaries. And sadly (but hilariously) enough, it’s actually true. Even after replies have been left by other people, you can still edit your Buzz messages. Talk about taking something out of its context.

As you can imagine, this can lead to some hilarious situations. But it’s also worrisome. Your reply, presumably in response, certainly will take on a whole other meaning. Apparently, this hasn’t been thought through by the Google guys.
Do you know any other cool Google Buzz tips? Let us know in the comments section below!