It’s almost as if Google has a patent on convenience. First, they launched their search engine, creating the easiest and most efficient way to search on the web. Then they added images, videos, maps, directions, and news alerts. Then came Gmail, perhaps the greatest email service ever created, with its mega-allowance of storage, infinite archival, and grouping of email “conversations.” Of course there’s also Google Earth and G-Chat, not to mention the G-Phone. It seems as Google was personally created just for us, in order to make our lives easier.
In about a month, Google plans to wow us further with their next achievement in uber-convenience. Their new phenomenon is called Google Wave, and while the details get a bit complicated, the idea is that Google Wave will combine all forms of communication and social media—email, chat, instant message, etc. Google has even put out an hour-and-a-half long video describing all the features of Google Wave, as well as how to use them. This instructional preview can be found here.
At Promoting Group, we see not only an opportunity for advanced internet communication and social media networking, but also the beginning of a whole new glossary of internet terms that non-iGenerationers will need dictionaries for. For example, you can only embed your WordPress blog into your Wave if you have a Sandbox. There are also terms like Wavelet and Blip.
Some speculate that the early announcement and preview video for Google Wave have come on the back of Microsoft’s Bing launch. Bing.com is threatening to out-do Google in terms of search engine finesse and accessory variety. Bing.com has already launched, so we will have to wait another month or so to check out Google Wave. Knowing Google, we won’t be disappointed.