Google Wave is now in beta, and it will be well worth keeping a close eye on whether it can live up to its game-changing claims. It is an instant collaboration tool that enables real-time sharing of multimedia. It brings together the best of IMs, emails, social sharing and other tools into one unique environment.

So what, exactly is a “Wave?” Google’s site explains:

Google announced Wave back in May. It supports real-time sharing of text, video, pictures, embeds, social networks, maps and even games. Think of it as hyper-instant messaging for everything. But it’s more complex – you can invite collaborators into your conversation and documents at any time. If I’m late to your Wave, I can “play it back,” and see the discussion that happened before I joined.

I strongly recommend watching this ten-minute video about Google Wave from the original announcement. (The full Wave presentation is over an hour. If you have the time, check it out.) Here is a glimpse of what Google Wave looks like:

(I realize the picture doesn’t do much justice to the project.)

Online collaboration is nothing new. What Google Wave does is make the concept free and portable, and it brings all the elements together in one place. It is open – Google is giving away the Wave API so anyone can go in and build extensions or new uses. This is something Terry and I absolutely believe is critical to success. Google Wave works on mobile as well – part of Google’s steady march to mobile devices. The program aims to make email passe as well. Google calls email the “snail mail” of the Internet.

Google Wave has a heck of a pedigree. It was developed by Jens and Lars Rasmussen, who built Google Maps. Right now, Wave  is in beta, and is available by invitation only. Put out the word via your social networks that you want an invite, and start playing immediately.

Imagine starting a wave in your office about a news topic. People could constantly add to it, put in the latest pictures, video and information. The assignment desk could contribute its findings and the reporters and producers would have instant access, as well as the ability to add more. We don’t yet know how newsrooms can fully take advantage of this tool (and isn’t that wonderful?) but we do believe it will be a powerful way to have the entire staff work together.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 6:28 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.