Google has been forced to make a series of changes after its new social networking site called Buzz has been accused of breaching the privacy of many users by exposing their personal details to the Internet world.

The recently launched Buzz is based around Google’s popular e-mail service Gmail, and is the company’s effort to compete with the growing popularity of sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Google experienced an overwhelmingly negative response after the company released data that revealed that more than ten million people had checked out the social media site within the first few days of the Buzz launch. Over nine million Google posts and comments and over 200 posts per minute from mobiles took place during that time, according to the company.

The way in which Google automatically, or by default, builds social networks on Buzz based on the people in a Gmail users account, is the issue generating all the controversy with the public.

Those with access to Buzz have argued that the privacy setting which affects the users that a person is following was hidden away by Google in the profile settings. Additional complaints include the fact that users are automatically sent to the Buzz page when they open their Gmail accounts.

Google has acknowledged that it has received “direct feedback” about the way the Buzz system is being operated.

“We heard from people that the checkbox for choosing not to display this information was too hard to find, and based on this feedback, we’ve changed the notice to make it very clear. We will roll these changes out to all Gmail users later today,” said the company.

Google has said it will adopt a block option similar to that on Twitter, which will allow users to block people who start following them.

Google says it designed Buzz so users could easily converse with others about interesting topics, and although the company claims some users are reaping the benefits of Buzz, it recognizes that “a long list of improvements” needs to be implemented.

By Taylor Turner