Google Buzz invites users to nuke their privacy settings and start over

When Google debuted its social network, Google Buzz, there was an immediate backlash against confusing privacy settings and an auto-add feature that ended up exposing people's profiles to undesirables. Google responded quickly by killing auto-add and making it easier to hide profile info, but the general impression that Buzz is a bit of a privacy nightmare still lingers. TheNextWeb reports that Google is trying to fix that, though, by hitting the reset button and letting everyone start their privacy settings from square one.

If all goes well, this will give us the Buzz we should have had from the beginning, with a chance to pick what we share and who we share it with. So, within the next few days, Buzz users will get a message detailing their current privacy settings and allowing them to make changes. This is especially a big deal for the thousands of Gmail users who clicked "try Buzz" and then never went anywhere near a privacy options screen.

Tags: buzz, google buzz, GoogleBuzz, privacy, privacy settings, PrivacySettings, reset, socialnetworking