A few months back I was part of a group that was introduced to Google Wave at the Social Media Club in New York City. I had heard about Google Wave but had really not had the time to sit down and learn more about it. So when I was invited, I decided to attend. I was glad I did.
Business Communication Goes from Threads to Waves
Google Wave is a shared way to communicate, collaborate and work as a team through conversation using documents and different media like text, photos, and other content, live. It brings together email, instant messaging, wikis and social networking. It involves everyone and anyone. At any time, anyone anywhere can join – respond to the message or change the content. A wave has a playback feature which allows anyone to analyze the wave and see who said what, when. Imagine what can be accomplished with that feature alone!
Since a wave is live and real, it allows users to converse, edit, interact and communicate. I found it intriguing to witness.
The Wave Gives You One Place to Communicate and Share
Google cites a few uses for a wave.
You can use it as a central hub to manage an event and all its details, invites, responses, agenda, location, food, accommodations and travel to name a few.
You can use it as a central hub to collaborate and brainstorm live on a project or during a meeting. Share discussions and content in one spot, eliminating version control with the ability to add ideas, content, edits, videos, images, web addresses and links.
One Interface, Many Questions
Google Wave. But will it be a fad or our future? Time will tell. Security, effectiveness, speed, management and complexity were all thoughts that entered my mind as I watched.
I have to admit the concept and ability to incorporate so much amongst so many for a purpose was intriguing and got me thinking about how we will communicate in the future. One thing is for certain, as history has shown, the way we communicate today will certainly be different in the future. Is Google Wave it? What are your thoughts?