by Alena Isami

Created on: March 04, 2010   Last Updated: March 06, 2010

Currently, there are two methods offered for disabling Google Buzz.  First, users have the “Hide Google Buzz” option which prevents future status updates on the network.  However, since users still have a Google profile, they are still “findable” and other Buzz users will still have the option to follow someone regardless if they are using Google Buzz or not.  The other method for disabling consists of eliminating the user’s Google profile and any associated updates and followers.  Here’s how to do that.

1)  Remove Buzz Updates and Hide Google Buzz.

This step prevents any future updates on Google Buzz.

Access your Google account by logging in. Access Buzz settings by either clicking on the “Settings” tab in the upper right hand corner of the screen or by scrolling to the bottom of the page where you will find a link that says “turn off buzz”. On your display, you should see a screen of options for “Display following lists” and “Buzz choices”. To hide Google Buzz, click on the button that reads, “Do not show Google Buzz in Gmail”. Click on “Save Changes” at the bottom of the box.

Additional Notes:

You will still need to manually remove any posts and un-follow any people in your network.

Any connected social networking services will continue to send updates to your mobile phone and you will still be able to generate Google Buzz updates.

2)  Remove Your Google Buzz Completely

This step eliminates your Google profile completely and with it, any connections to other sites, followers, and updates you may have.  This step cannot be reversed so users must be aware of what they have invested before clicking on this link.

Access your Google account by logging in. Access Buzz settings by either clicking on the “Settings” tab in the upper right hand corner of the screen or by scrolling to the bottom of the page where you will find a link that says “turn off buzz”. On your display, you should see a screen of options for “Display following lists” and “Buzz choices”. To remove Google Buzz completely, click on the link that reads “Disable Google Buzz”

The benefit of using this button is that users don’t have to clean up the updates and un-follow anyone Google Buzz automatically started, but again, the drawback is that everything gets wiped out and leaves you with basically, just an email account.

Disabling Google Buzz has been an evolving process.  Originally, if you had a Gmail account, then you had Google Buzz, but that’s not the case any longer.  Users can feel confident that they are able to opt-in to Google Buzz at any level they wish to engage at.

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