The Web Uncovered

If you are a technology nut like me, you are always interested in trying out the latest applications or tools available. Several months ago, I was lucky enough to get an early preview invite to join Google’s new communication and collaboration tool, Google Wave. The online tool is reinventing email one wave (conversation) and blip (message) at a time.

The platform combines email, instant messaging and online collaboration into a real-time system. It can be used by two people or a whole group of people. Instead of cc’ing a person on a message, you can add that person to the conversation. Users apart of a wave can follow messages in real-time, play back the entire conversation timeline and even add to or edit any part of the conversation.

While it seems confusing at first, these videos shine a light on Google Wave’s simplicity and functionality: http://simurl.com/simplewave

Although my time on Google Wave has been limited, I can already see the value in this new form of online collaboration. Instead of having an inbox full of emails back and forth between two people or a group of people, Google Wave provides a live timeline of events and updates with full editing functionality. You can even collaborate on documents in real-time as a group and embed photos, videos and maps in to the conversation.

More than one million users are actively using Google Wave in preview mode. New outlets and publications like RedEye Chicago are hosting daily waves to discuss timely and relevant topics with their readers.

There are still some kinks for Google to work out, but once Google Wave advances past preview mode and catches on with the masses, I can see this as a revolution in the business world. A

Blip me at www.googlewave.com/jabraha7

Written by Twitter Handle @jabraha7

Twitter has become increasingly popular as a news source.  While microblogging is anything but content rich, it’s true value added is in its ability to be up to date by the minute.  While in most cases this is not very important to people, there are situations where by the minute is imperative.

There supposedly was a situation at the Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco where the world earthquake spiked as a keyword.  The staff was perplexed, until the earthquake shook their office less than a minute later.  The Tweets were faster than the earthquake!  Less dramatic examples of this can be found.  One is how today many people are following and tweeting about the California State Supreme Court decision regarding Proposition 8.  A lot of Californians are anxiously awaiting to hear what the decision will be.

The larger rammifications of this has dual consequences.  First of all, people will be less likely to turn to print when knews finds them in real time, rather than seeking it out on their own.  The downside is that is drastically changes the business model for traditional print, and even online publications.  Furthermore, a societal side effect would be that news would become less analytical, and much more decontextualized.  Anger towards this technology may be the only  thing that Neil Postman and Rupert Murdoch have in common.

Thanks to a recent blog post by Andy Beal, We can find the MarketingProfs survey of Twitter users.  What did they find?

Twitter users were asked to rate the reasons why they participate, on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree):

• “I find it exciting to learn new things from people”: Average score 4.65
• “I value getting information in a timely manner”: Average score 4.58
• “I like to be connected to lots of people”: Average score 3.91
• “I want to generate new business”: Average score 3.70
• “I find it gratifying to have people follow me”: Average score 3.64

The Takeaway:  Twitter users care more about being heard than listening.  if you are using Twitter as a marketing tool, then you must generate frequent, targetted content that will truly gain the interest of followers after you have enticed them to  follow you.