So, everyone out there who has picked up an invite has been posting their reflections on Wave and so this will be one more voice to add. My quick take on this service is that it is a very powerful bulletin board. People involved share a common document and can attach elements just like a regular board. The difference is being able to move forward and back in stages.
So what about the problem that this is waiting to solve? Well unlike a bulletin board that is open to everyone, this is more like email. A conversation that is closed to everyone but the invited participants. Unlike email, the entire body of the exchange sits in one place, like a bulletin board. Like email, this is going to be used for communication and collaboration, but unlike email, I don’t think that this is going to be as accessible on mobile devices (other than Android) for a while. This is certainly going to be something that is going to limit it’s uptake.
So what about my comment about this being the social network for ubergeeks? Well I don’t think that is going to happen. Wave has at it’s core a technology that might help other social networks allow their users to communicate much more easily, but on it’s own, no. It is going to be likely far more useful as a project based collaboration tool in an office or other project oriented environment than in the free wheeling social arena.
I’ll continue to use it in the office to collaborate and as I do, I’m sure I’ll find new uses for it (right now I’m thinking a replacement for Google Notes). And in the end, as my colleague just mentioned… “it can do lots of interesting stuff… we just don’t know what yet”.
The part that sucks? No invites for me to give out just yet.
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