Say hello or wave goodbye first impressions of #googlewave
Being a cinema enthusiast I am no stranger to hype however since the announcement of Googlewave I have been eagerly awaiting it’s arrival. Perhaps not as sought over as a Willy Wonka gold wrapper to see the Wave invitees flaunting their invites on Twitter produced in me only mild envy. However this did not stop me doorstepping @paulocanning but help arrived via my good friend @pcliffe with an invite duly sent.
My first impressions of Googlewave were underwhelming but worse my attempt to explain it to a person failed. As I tried to explain that Googlewave was a sideways communications tool influenced as much by Twitter than messaging services I was stumbling. Clearly fmy attempt at a pitch floundered. Pitches are not my strong point indeed I loath the idea of the pitch. In cinema the dreaded pitch is endemic in Hollywood and it’s poor relative the British Film Council and equally it is part of the vile Dragons Den programme.
So what about Googlewave? Well the benefits were not immediate to me. I like the idea that the aim is to redefine email but the opening screen had some simalarity with email. Instead these are called waves. You’ve Got Waves might be the sequel to Ephrons You’ve got Mail.
Sending my first wave felt like email. However being able to playback an wave conversation was interesting. More than one person can I think particapate in a wave so playing back might be essential to grasp the conversation. Google claim Wave is trying to mimic real life (always a dangerous idea) online. So as someone types their wave to you, their keystrokes are visible to you. So you can see their thoughts taking shape. Then like a version of real life you can butt in before they finish.
Essentially Wave for me is not immediately grasped. What difference there is between a wave and a ping is a mystery to me. Critics have cited this as a turn off noting to grasp the basics of wave you need to watch instruction videos.
Unlike Twitter that has a simplicity in use which was greatly helped by our collective use of mobile text messaging, Wave willl be a learning curve. Is that really a bad thing? Having to play around, discover and make mistakes are reasons to persist with Wave. That is precisely what I will do.
Google Wave may take longer to catch on but is one more move towards a post email world. As people unceasingly use Twitter and Facebook chat tools to communicate they maybe ready for Google Wave. Email has endured and Google are putting down markers for a post email works.
