I think the main initial sin of buzz, is that they launched the service from Gmail without any warning the people were going to have their contact lists suddenl

I think the main initial sin of buzz, is that they launched the service from Gmail without any warning the people were going to have their contact lists suddenly exposed without oversight to other people on their contact lists. There were several horror stories about violent ex-husbands suddenly seeing the new boyfriend's contact information and the like. Gmail users hadn't signed up for "a social network", just an email account with a contact list they had every right to assume was private.