Google Buzz is the new kid on the social media block, but like networks that have been around for a while (your Facebooks, your Twitters, etc.), it is critical to reputation management. WebProNews discussed monitoring using Google Buzz with Google’s Rick Klau, who used to run the publihser team at Feedburner, and is currently the Business Product Manager for Google’s Blogger.

Klau says Buzz monitoring is "definitely" as important as monitoring another critical component of reputation management,  Google Blog Search. "As a product manager on Blogger, I regularly monitor Twitter and Buzz in addition to blog comments to look for users having problems or sharing interesting ideas," he tells us. "It’s important to go where the users are – otherwise you’ll miss out on conversations that are happening, and miss the opportunity to help solve a problem, learn about an issue that needs attention, or share a tip that deserves a broader audience."

"The real-time nature of tools like Buzz, along with the ease with which users can share and redistribute info, makes the amplification of information even more powerful than it was before," adds Klau. "News has the opportunity to spread virally, very quickly."

"That’s great if it’s good news, but potentially damaging if it’s bad news," he says. "That’s why it’s so important to both look for conversations happening about topics that matter to you, and to engage where appropriate. When users know you’re listening, and in a position to help, they can go from angry to appreciative pretty quickly."

Klau discusses Buzz monitoring in more detail in a post on his personal blog. In it, he provides more information about specifically how he uses Buzz for monitoring purposes, and provides steps to do it like he does.

First, he says to enable Gmail’s "Quick Links" tab, which puts a box below Labels in Gmail. Then he says to go to Buzz, type in a query, and click "Add Quick Link" in the Quick Links box. This creates a bookmark to the query, allowing for easy access to the latest "buzz" on a query.

Are you using Google Buzz as part of your reputation management strategy?