I want to offer my gratitude to the Google Buzz team. My life has been enriched by their creation. I have saved time, rediscovered old friends and relearned important lessons about the value of communication.

It just so happens none of this actually happened *on* Google Buzz (mostly because not much of *anything* happens on Google Buzz) but rather this all occurred for me because my high hopes for Google Buzz were my inspiration for disabling my Facebook account.

I would not describe myself as a social media junkie (some friends may disagree, shut up) but I was a frequent user. I felt Social Meida was a new frontier. I was on the cusp of the paradigm shift. Endless opportunities abounded. Exciting times indeed.

As the promise of Buzz beckoned I became emboldened. I deactivated my Facebook account and struck out as a new pioneer on the Buzz Frontier and then…nothing…happened. By nothing, I mean silence. In that social media void I began to reach out via traditional methods. You know, with telephones or emails. Real conversations. With people. Using spoken words or paragraphs >140 characters. Gone were the quick quips, comments, LOLs, confusing timelines, useless email notifications about lame Facebook updates and endless Mafia Wars invites.

I enjoyed this new space. I didn’t miss Social Media. The paradigm was shifting, or not, and I didn’t care.

I still have several Twitter accounts. I still have Google Buzz. I have not, and do not plan to, reactivate Facebook.

When it comes down to it, I’d prefer to have the right conversations with the right people than to share my every thought with the masses. I wish the masses felt the same way.