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Did you get your Google Wave invite yet? More importantly, how many times have you been asked this in the past week?
Google Wave is Google’s new real-time communication platform that combines features of email, project management, web chat, instant messaging, wikis and social networking. It’s a dream tool for those who want to bring a group of people together to discuss and share everything from work files to stories from their weekend escapades. So why isn’t everyone taking advantage of such a useful and fun tool?
Well, because they can’t.
This innovative platform launched to the public on September 30th, but it only launched to some of the public, 100,000 people to be exact.
This elite group was chosen to preview the platform, and, from what I’ve read on sites like Mashable and Digg, those who received invites were people who were involved in the development preview, invited by someone at Google, or were part of the very early invite pool.
Since Google Wave launched, social media sites have been abuzz with who has an invite, who wants one, who requested one but didn’t receive it yet, and who “doesn’t care” that they didn’t get an invite.
Even if Google Wave isn’t as useful as it seems, this untouchable label that has been applied to the platform has made Google Wave irresistible, even to those who don’t know what it is. In essence, limiting invitations has done for the platform what banning alcohol did for drinking in the 20’s. See below:
@ignaciogiri says: I don’t know if Google Wave is going to be the next big thing. The only thing I know is that I want an account, don’t know why. (I know why…because you can’t have one, yet.)
On the other hand, keeping Google Wave exclusive for too long, might cause early adopters to lost interest when they have no one of value with whom to interact.
@tmcconnon says: My Google Wave account would be much more fun if more friends/co-workers were on it too. When do the 2nd round of invites go out @google?
If you subscribe to the age-old adage that people only want what they can’t have, then Google’s tactic of limiting invitations is pure genius. Only time, and a lot more user feedback, will tell if Google Wave will really be a swell you can ride to the shore, or if it will fizzle out before you reach the beach.
Related links:
Confused about Google Wave? Read Mashable’s Google Wave Guide.
Preview Google Wave here.
If you really want to see what all the hype is about, you can request a Google Wave invite, although there’s no telling when you’ll actually get one.