“What would email look like if we set out to invent it today?”
That was the question raised by Google when developing the new Google Wave, a real time platform for communication and collaboration which combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, social networking, and project management into one centralized tool. Apart from if it would really replace the conventional e-mail, as was implied in the question, Wave is being greeted with great enthusiasm and interest by people all around the world, and your company should pay attention to that.
At Twitter, Google Wave has been in the trending topic list for many weeks. About three weeks after 100,000 Google Wave’s invitations were released to the public by previous subscription, Stephanie Hannon, product manager for Google Wave, announced last Sunday via Twitter the new round of invitations. Users are crazy to have one of those. Having the opportunity to be one of the first to try out the system has been so difficult that in USA the blogger Hagan Blount promoted a sale for his invitation at eBay. According to the Wall Street Journal, he received offers up to US$27,000. The auction was however withdrawn afterwards, as it did not comply with eBay’s rules.
The excitement surrounding Google Wave can be summarized in one simple word: innovation.
The communication is synchronous, where people can see in real time what you are writing. The waves, which are the conversation mediums on this platform, enable collaborative multimedia elements such as maps, files, surveys, audio, video and applications, allowing two or hundreds of people to interact in a fluent manner. One of my favorite features is that it is open-sourced.
Ben Parr, columnist at Mashable.com, made a list of features from Google Wave that can be game-changing. These features are able to give us a scenario on the potential of this new technology for companies and business:
Wiki-style functionality: In Wave, you can reply to messages within a conversation string and reorganize conversations, making conversations a great deal easier to track. – Gain on optimized interaction with costumers and on market / trend researches.
Drag-and-drop file uploads: Google Wave is not only a communication platform, but a useful project management system. Companies could use Google Wave as their communication and file-sharing platform. Combined with Wave extensions, you could build an entire project management platform and time management system better than anything on the market.
Wave embeds: Instead of a chat room, you can add Wave on your company’s website and do customer service through it. Instead of static comments, imagine real-time conversations via Waves. Conversations are easily shared with embeds.
Open-source: Google Wave is not only extendable, but is an open-source project. This means two big things. First, developers can build their own version of Google Wave. Second, Google Wave can be hosted on your own server. Developers have the freedom to create a Wave server for their company or to create a branded version of Wave. – This means that companies can adopt the server to their business and sell the Wave under their own brand.
Wave’s innovative platform has yet to enter the day-to-day lives, as has happened with the phone, email, instant messenger and social networks. When this change happens, everything will be different. If companies are able to get it right, they might have an opportunity to create incredible innovations of their own for their business practices.
For further information on Google Wave, we recommend the following links:
Tags: business marketing, google wave, interactive platform, protocol, search engines, technology
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