How to Remove Buzz from Gmail

Google Buzz never quite took off the way other Google products have.

Google debuted a social component for Gmail, Buzz, in 2010, with the intent of making it easy to share status updates, photos and other content with your Gmail contacts. However, many people were concerned about the service's privacy levels, and Google quickly responded by introducing the ability to delete Buzz entirely or to not share it with Gmail contacts. The company then followed up with a different social product, Google+, in 2011, while retaining the Buzz functionality within Gmail. If you no longer wish to use Buzz, you can delete your profile entirely--without deleting your Gmail, Google+ or any other Google account. Or you can just remove the Buzz link from your inbox.

Instructions

1. Sign into Gmail and click the gear icon in the top-right corner.

2. Select "Mail Settings," then "Buzz."

3. Select "Do not show Google Buzz in Gmail." This retains your Buzz account and any content you've posted, but you will no longer see the Buzz link in your Gmail sidebar; however, your contacts will still see any content you continue to post to Buzz. If you want to delete all your Buzz content and prevent contacts from seeing your posts, click "Disable Google Buzz" completely instead of "Do not show Google Buzz in Gmail."

4. Click "Save changes" to apply the settings. The Buzz link will disappear from your left sidebar in Gmail.

References

• Google: Disabling Google Buzz
• "PC World"; Google Apologizes for Buzz Privacy Issues; David Coursey; Feb. 15, 2010