Whats all the buzz about?

Google released something called Buzz which is integrated right into GMail. So what is buzz? The way I see it, it is a cross between twitter and facebook.
Unlike a lot of other mashups, they seem to have taken the good parts of both. One good decision (so far) is that there are no apps. The only reason I detest Facebook is all the invitations from all the people for all the apps, causes, games, etc. etc. Why the hell should I want to know what some stupid program says which Superman character my friend resembles? And looking at the number of apps that keep coming up, its quite irritating.
Buzz is more like a threaded twitter. Think of twitter with conversation view (like gmail vs others). Which is why I think it will become popular. Also, it doesn't have the limitations of a tweet.
I hope google doesn't add apps to this beauty.