Will Buzz kill Wave?

When Google launched Wave a few months ago, it promised to be the panacea of online collaboration. "What if e-mail was invented today?" was the premise claimed as the central idea for creating it. But upon launch, it was met with an atmosphere of enthusiasm that slowly evolved into plain confusion. I clearly remember a phrase going around, saying that Wave was invented so young people would know what old people feel when they try to use a computer. Criticism started mounting. Now, except for a few enthusiasts, Wave is pretty much sitting in the back burner. A great tool, and recognised as such, but it is a great tool in search of an application. A solution in search of a problem. Fact is, anything that Wave can do, other software can also do in a simpler fashion.





At the time of launch, a few friends and I were discussing whether or not Wave meant trouble for Facebook. I said that it most definitely didn't - the aims of both applications were worlds apart. However, those who claimed that it might spell trouble for FB might have been onto something.

Fast forward to today. Google launched Buzz three days ago - and it looks like a serious Facebook rival. It doesn't claim to be a social networking site - but it just might turn into one, or at least into something similar enough as to not make a difference.



Already Google has shown that they learned from what went wrong with Wave, and they have given us a much stabler environment that coexists seamlessly with current Gmail accounts. There is no hunting for an invite, which some have said makes Buzz not have that air of exclusivity that Gmail had at first and Wave emulated later. But there's only so many times that trick will work. And that gives Buzz the advantage of instantaneously having a wide user base. Some of us Wave pioneers excitedly logged on to the Wave page only to come to the realisation we had no one to 'wave' with. Buzz is already showing signs of a more vibrant life than Wave did. Buzz can also turn into a one stop page where you can follow Twitter feeds, your friends' comments, share web content....

I don't think Buzz will kill Wave, and unless Google decides to pull the plug on the latter app, I don't think it will die. Truth is, Wave has a host of interesting functions that make it particularly well suited for online collaboration in ways that Buzz (or Gmail, for that matter) isn't. It won't be the panacea it was meant to be, and definitely not a tool for everybody. But my guess is that Google is aware of this. Not every single person out there uses Google Scholar, for example, or Google Docs for that matter. As I said before, Wave is a solution in search of a problem. I believe it has already found people who are grateful for its existence and that it will continue to grow and improve.

As to Buzz? I see it growing into a widely used functionality of Gmail, stealing users from Facebook and Twitters homepages, but never actually eclipsing them. But I could be wrong. Time will tell.