A Few Ways Google Wave May Change Everything… Almost Everything!

So, for those of us that were lucky enough to receive an invite  for Google Wave, the exclusive network, this blog post is for you and any future participant.

Call me a dork, but one of the things that excite me most about the Google Wave is how the news can use it to create live reader interactions. In essence, I can be a big part of a report with the information I may hold on my phone!

I can see it now… “This is Shervin Bain, reporting live from my car on the way to work. It appears that an 18-wheeler’s attempt to take the Palmetto’s Highway’s detour was thwarted by the clearance level, which the driver said he was “unaware of.” Then, I attach a picture of the incident, while another “impromptu-reporter” shares images of how far traffic is backed up and suggests the best route to avoid the traffic that will tie up commuters for hours. Although I have no plans of being a reporter, I do live in a hypothetical world, and hypothetically, this seems awesome to me.

Reported by Mashable, Chicago Tribune’s RedEye blog has started a public wave on November 10, and has attracted more than 300 blips since then. Because of the Wave’s success, Stephanie Yiu, RedEye’s web editor, and Scott Kleinberg, senior editor of digital and print, now lead a half-hour public wave session every day.

Since I know little to nothing about Chicago, I’m reluctant to surf this wave, but I do have to admit that if this was one of my local new sources, I would probably comment on just about everything that was reported. I think this is another tool that can be used to save print media!

In the same article written by Leah Betancourt, she discusses the significance of using Waves as “Town Squares.” Now, while I find this to be a bit hastier, I guess this is possible, but I can’t help but think about how quickly this can fail. Quoting from her article during an interview with Robert Quigley, social media editor at the Austin American-Statesman:

“…the challenge right now is keeping public waves on topic. If they get more than 50 blips, discussion grinds to a halt… in order for Google Wave to work during a news event, there needs to be the ability to moderate and or easily spin something into another wave and link to it in the first wave to keep it on topic.”

So, while Google Wave has potential to be a virtual “town square,” it will take me a bit more convincing to actually see this panning out as an everyday useful tool in open forum discussions.

One of the more obvious uses that Betancourt discussed in her post was “Turning Blog Posts into Public Waves.”

This opens floodgates for new information and relevant opinions from your blog readers. It allows for collaborations, editing and possibly most important, transparent writing.

There are numerous—I can’t say endless—possibilities for Google Wave, and after doing some research on Google Wave, I, for one, am excited to jump on another bandwagon and experience this new technology.

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