Information Technology World

Google Inc said it may create a stand-alone version of its Buzz social networking product but won't separate Buzz from its Gmail service, a linkup that has spurred controversy over privacy. Google, the world's No.1 Internet search engine launched Buzz earlier this week in a bid to tap into the fast-growing social networking market dominated by companies like Facebook and Twitter. Buzz allows users to broadcast messages and share photos and videos with friends and colleagues online, similar to Twitter and Facebook. But unlike those services, Buzz is built directly into Google's Gmail and the product automatically creates each users' social network based on the person's most-frequently emailed contacts. "We have considered, among all the other features that we add to Buzz in the future, to create a stand-alone experience in addition to it being in Gmail," Google spokeswoman Victoria Katsarou told Reuters on Friday. In the days since th...