The Wave doesn’t just stand for a hand gesture, a movement of water, or a sports stadium crowd activity anymore.
Wave is Google’s new online tool for “real-time communication and collaboration,” and all of the online communications world is buzzing about it. Some people anticipate the tool, which is expected to come out in less than 24 hours, to redefine e-mail and web communication.
Not only is Wave the name of the tool, but the actions you make on the tool are referred to as waves. According to the website, a wave is:
- Equal parts conversation and document
- Shared
- Live
Still don’t get it? Yea, it didn’t do a lot for me, either. From what I understand, people on the same wave can discuss and edit content together quickly thanks to the real-time “see as they type” feature and in an organized fashion.
My interpretation is: let’s say you are working on some site copy or a bylined article with a team of 3 or 4 people. Normally, you may circulate different versions of the document around and each person would make their changes (and you hope they turned track changes on!) or send back emails with their thoughts until eventually you got it right. In a wave, the same group of people could collaborate in a real-time email thread and you can all edit it together and see the edits as they happen.
Still don’t get it? You are not alone. There are the really excited people, the skeptics, and then the majority… the confused. You can try to learn more here but perhaps the best way to know whether this will really be the “wave” of the future or a giant flop is to try for yourself. I tried getting a preview today but was directed to this page to get on a waiting list.
I wonder, is it because the demand is already so high? Or is this a tactic on Google’s part to create the illusion of exclusivity, thus creating more anticipation and interest?
Will you do the wave?
