I was interested to hear about Google Buzz and even more interested to use the new social networking tool from Google to rival the popular Twitter. I must say I so far have been disappointed and the main reason being that it’s poorly integrated into Gmail. Also the privacy issues that have plagued the service as well haven’t helped.

Google Buzz automatically populated friends’ lists for users based on how often contacts were e-mailed, sometimes grouping highly sensitive contacts together in the same group.

Microsoft themselves have jumped into the foray as both Google and Microsoft realise that email is slowly being replaced as the centre point of users communicating electronically.

Microsoft are realising their social connector as part of Office 2010. Microsoft Social Connector integrates directly with other social networking sites, which so far only include LinkedIn directly into your inbox. You can see people’s current status and updates directly in your inbox.

The Outlook Social Connecter presents useful information including:

Communication History : Your mailbox is searched and the recent messages you’ve exchanged with that person appear. Can’t remember the last time you e-mailed this person? A quick look at the OSC reveals the last time you received an email from them, and one click opens up the message.

Meetings : When is the next scheduled meeting with this person? The OSC shows upcoming appointments that include you and the message sender.

Attachments : Can’t find the attachment that the person is referring to in a message? With the OSC you can quickly review attachments that you and the sender have exchanged. One-click access quickly opens the attachment or you can see the message that it is attached to.

Activity Feeds :  Stay on top of activities involving your colleagues and friends in real time. The OSC connects to business and consumer social networks.