Google Wave - Google Introduces the Wave of the Future October 7, 2009
Google Wave: The Future of Internet Communication?
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace….now Google Wave. Interesting toy, fleeting fad, or relevant business tool? Good question. I think Twitter - all 140 characters of it, is a good lead generation, PR, and networking tool. For me, Facebook and MySpace are nothing more
r than what they purport to be - ways to connect to people…and by that I mean generally in a non-business way.
What about Google Wave? It went beta to 100,000 users at midnight on 9/30. It swears to be the best thing to happen to social media since sliced bread. Requests on Twitter on 9/30 for Google Wave for invites to signup for it were constantly appearing and it was at or near the top of the Trending Topics list.
Here’s what Google Wave promises to be or include features of - according to Google, of course:
- Instant messaging
- Blogging
- Wiki
- Multi-media management
- Document sharing
All of this - and eventually more - tied into this very feature-rich product.
While Google Wave is a product, the bigger goal for the overall Google Wave project is to turn it into a major communication platform. That means that Google will need to get third-party developers on-board building apps to work on Wave.
Of course, this is actually already happening with some fun and useful gadgets ready to use now including:
- A Suduko game played entirely within Wave that you play in real-time with your friends
- A fun video chat app
- A Ribbit conference call gadget
- And a trip-planning app by Lonely Planet
These ‘gadgets’ take only two clicks to install (very Mac-like, don’t you think?) and you can then immediately begin using them socially within Wave. From a business technology standpoint, the even better news is that there are already some large companies working on their very own ideas on how to use Wave as a communication tool, including CRM industry giant Salesforce.com.
As a business tool today - Wave is not there. But I sense that with this being a large, full-featured project with large companies already drooling, it won’t take long for Wave to become a regular force in business communications and networking.
