So what to do about this Google Buzz thing that appeared in your Gmail inbox yesterday like a giant, digital insect and demands you pay attention?

Well, first of all, you can swat it. Scroll down to the bottom of the feed and click the teeny tiny link that says “turn off buzz.” Gone.

We’re not suggesting you do this right away. After all, you may find that Buzz contains the features you always wished Twitter and Facebook had, such as easier ways of sharing pictures and videos and FriendFeed-like integration with other social media profiles. Here’s a handy guide for getting started.

But watch out. Some say there’s a major privacy issue with Google Buzz in the fact that it publicly divulges who your top Gmail contacts are. So, when you start using Buzz, make sure the automatic social network it creates out of your contacts doesn’t include anyone you don’t want your boss, spouse or parents seeing.

So, with those big items out of the way, it’s time to ask: To Buzz or not to Buzz?

Personally, I’m ambivalent. I feel a bit invaded. I mean, fair enough, I use Gmail by choice. It’s basically my lifeline to the outside world, my main professional communication tool, and it doesn’t cost me a cent. If it were taken away, my world would crash.

It’s hard to imagine conducting my life without Google’s products, period, especially search. In my own non-romantic way, I’m kinda like the dude in the Parisian Love commercial. Google is a tool for navigating, like, everything. (And maybe it’s time to re-examine that.)

But if you’re like me, then the sudden arrival of a fairly complex new feature in your main communication tool demands immediate attention.

I’ve spent the last 24 hours — on and off, mind you — mulling over whether I should put forth the effort to integrate this product into my life. I’ve also been prompted to look at the mobile version, which with its Foursquare-like geolocation tagging system and integration with Google Maps and Reviews, could very well become more prominent than the Gmail/web-based product. And when Google launches a new product, it can and does change lives. Yikes.

Now, some of the nuts and bolts…

By only allowing me to interact with Gmail contacts — some 40 or so total showed up — Google Buzz presents nowhere near the networking powers of my Facebook and Twitter profiles, which I’ve built up and tailored over the years to where I’m interacting with hundreds of people.

Now, you can search for people to follow in Buzz, but the “find people” window just brings up names and thumbnail images, with the option to Add. It doesn’t allow you to click through and see whether you’ve found the right person before you begin following them. Search results for Barack Obama, for example, are downright weird.

Another con: Like with Facebook’s Top News feed, Buzz places the most commented-on posts at the top of your feed, messing up the chronology. Unlike Facebook, you can’t switch over to see the most recent posts firsts.

My thinking is that for now, I’m going to set my Twitter to feed into Google Buzz and just let the thing marinate for a while. The advantage (or, for some, further distraction) of Buzz is that if anyone “@ replies” me or comments, I’ll see it in my inbox. So the only things I’ll miss are my few and proud early-adopting friends’ Buzz-specific posts and Google Reader shares. Sorry, guys.

Until everyone I could possibly want to follow begins using Gmail, I don’t see Buzz taking the place of Facebook and Twitter atop my social network pyramid. But I’m not choosing to definitively commit one way or the other just yet. Things change.

One thing worth considering is the fact that kids don’t use e-mail. As VatorNews points out, “Less than one-fifth of people aged 13-17 use e-mail as their primary communication method with friends, compared with nearly 40% of adults aged 25-54. Instant Messaging and social networks are the preferred means of virtual communication among teens.”

Buzz is clearly Google’s attempt to get a chomp of the social networking fajita. Whether it will break out of Gmail will be interesting to see.

And I’m also very interested in what you think of Buzz. Yes? No? Not sure? Share your thoughts in the comments.