I think it will, given time, succeed, and succeed quite well. There is something extremely viral about Google Wave. Talking about the product with others stirs excitement. It has an extremely high level of novelty at this moment, even before launch. Things that work and work well have a history of spreading. Word of mouth was much of what was the success of sites like Twitter. People just started talking about it. And it was an open platform, so people started using it in a variety of ways that weren't even considered by the original creators. That's because a well designed flexible framework like Google Wave will inspire user interaction. People will say "Hey, we could totally use Google Wave for this" much like small companies slowly said "Hey, we could use Basecamp for this." And more and more, felt themselves coming back for more. Things will just start to "make more sense" to do in Google Wave instead of email or IM. Or twittering @ someone.
What's crucial for Google Wave, I think, it that the user's FIRST EXPERIENCE has to be a good one. Has to be like that moment you log in to Gmail after using hotmail and saying "Yeah. This makes sense. This is better." Or creating a Facebook account back in the day after being abused by MySpace for so long. "Wow. This is MUCH better. It just makes sense."
I think new users will stumble upon and reveal functionality as they use it. Like, "oh I just replied to this person --- WAIT! I can see what they're typing!?!? WOW!"
Not since the days of ICQ were you able to actively watch your friend type. And I think that was actually one of the biggest draws to ICQ. you could see it happen. And someone's typing has a way of body language that emoticons do not. Pauses, rephranes (sp?) , these things give away subtle hints of someone's feelings about something, and I believe it will add an additional element of emotion to email and instant messaging. Building image galleries, inserting games, and loading up invites to parties through the yes no widget will become "team building" because never before have we been able to, as a one to many interaction digitally, been able to build things together visually in real-time!
I think it will, given time, succeed, and succeed quite well. There is something extremely viral about Google Wave. Talking about the product with others stirs excitement. It has an extremely high level of novelty at this moment, even before launch. Things that work and work well have a history of spreading. Word of mouth was much of what was the success of sites like Twitter. People just started talking about it. And it was an open platform, so people started using it in a variety of ways that weren't even considered by the original creators. That's because a well designed flexible framework like Google Wave will inspire user interaction. People will say "Hey, we could totally use Google Wave for this" much like small companies slowly said "Hey, we could use Basecamp for this." And more and more, felt themselves coming back for more. Things will just start to "make more sense" to do in Google Wave instead of email or IM. Or twittering @ someone.
What's crucial for Google Wave, I think, it that the user's FIRST EXPERIENCE has to be a good one. Has to be like that moment you log in to Gmail after using hotmail and saying "Yeah. This makes sense. This is better." Or creating a Facebook account back in the day after being abused by MySpace for so long. "Wow. This is MUCH better. It just makes sense."
I think new users will stumble upon and reveal functionality as they use it. Like, "oh I just replied to this person --- WAIT! I can see what they're typing!?!? WOW!"
Not since the days of ICQ were you able to actively watch your friend type. And I think that was actually one of the biggest draws to ICQ. you could see it happen. And someone's typing has a way of body language that emoticons do not. Pauses, rephranes (sp?) , these things give away subtle hints of someone's feelings about something, and I believe it will add an additional element of emotion to email and instant messaging. Building image galleries, inserting games, and loading up invites to parties through the yes no widget will become "team building" because never before have we been able to, as a one to many interaction digitally, been able to build things together visually in real-time!
Think of how fascinating this will be to use!!