StreamCurrent

Yep, that’s what we were waiting for.  Something of consequence, something with substance, and something that could potentially challenge Twitter, disrupt the Internet, and is a significant sign of the next stages of the real time web.  Thank you, Google.

How It All Happened

After a somewhat boring first day, many were left waiting for something bigger.  Although a few individuals received a sneak peak of what was to come on day two of the conference, most of the crowd was left with an empty feeling.  Day two was a totally different story.

Before the conference, “official leaks” started to surface that Google was set to announce Google Wave, a real time, open source communication and content aggregation platform that includes APIs for developers (my first thought was a FriendFeed & Orgoo combination, but it’s much more than that).  The product was originally conceived in 2004, then work began in 2007 and is now in its embryonic stages.  To be alerted when Google Wave is ready go here.

Forget Bing, Hulu Desktop or anything else going on today, this is Google’s biggest launch in a long time.

Communication

Wave looks similar to gmail’s inbox and pulls your contacts from  Google Contacts.  Each thread (what Google calls a Wave) can include not only messages – both email and IM – but many different forms of content.  Pictures of your contacts are included in the Wave.

When engaging wiht a Wave the full version is opened on the right side of the screen.  To enter content (message, etc.) into a Wave you can simply respond or you can click on the area you would like to participate.  You can add your contacts to the Wave by dragging and dropping a contact’s picture into the Wave.

Youf contact can join the Wave, and even has the ability to review the entire Wave by using the “playback” feature.  Think of your DVR, where you can rewind to get caught up with a show and skip the commercials (or dull parts of a Wave).

The IM feature allows anyone online to communicate in real time, all within the same Wave.  But this is real time messaging, your friends see the words as you type them – unlike IM that post your message after you send it.  This is REAL TIME messaging.  For those that like the “old” IM system, just select draft and you will have the ability to control when your message is posted.

If you have multiple people in a Wave and you want to message with someone off-line, you can initiate a conversation outside the Wave and it will be private.   The message will stay in the Wave, but only be viewed by the private parties; everyone else will not see these comments within the Wave.

Collaboration

There is wiki functionality that allows for group collaboration and editing.  Updates are presented in real-time and users are notified when someone is in the middle of editing a document by a colored field next to the section they are editing.  The playback feature is here too, so you can go back and review documents before they were edited and watch the document’s evolution.

There are options to share photos and other content, but users must install Google gears to receive the full functionality.  Photos are shared in the Wave and everyone in the Wave has instant access to them.  Contacts in the Wave can edit the picture.  This allows for group collaboration when adding headlines and comments around photos, but I don’t see a tagging function.  That’s one area that can be improved and potentially used to pull additional individuals into the Wave.  It would be great if a contact is notified about a Wave when they are tagged, and given the ability to join.

Aggregation of Information Back to the Wave – Away From The Wave

Google wants other sites to use Google Wave to facilitate real time communication around the web, and then collect and spread those conversations back to the Wave.  Sites can post content on their site and have the content incorporated in the Wave.  Users can participate in the Wave directly from the original site, or while logged in to Google Wave.

Individual Wave can be published as stand-alone content throughout the web.  Google Wave can be used as an internal communication mechanism that is private.  Companies can host Google Wave on their servers and use it to facilitate internal communications.

Open Source Platform and Developer APIs

Google Wave is just the framework and it’s open to developers.  As a platform, Google Wave will allow developers to build applications through the Wave APIs.  Google is hoping the Wave platform has a large influence on the developer community like the Facebook developer platform and Apple’s iPhone operating system.  It’s not clear how – or if – OpenSocial will be tied to Google Wave.

This, of course, is the ideal developer strategy.  Start a platform, generate a ton of hype, give developers the tools they need to be successful, and then benefit from the fruits of the developers labor.  And the developers benefit as well.  They are able to work on a robust platform backed by an Internet giant, and can receive a jump start on a new company.

Along those lines, Google Wave will be open source.  I think this is brilliant.  Let the community improve the platform, much faster than Google can, and again reap the benefits.  Developers will take ownership of Google Wave and be less likely to switch to a competitor.  I always thought Facebook should do this with their developer platform.

Real Time Search & Twitter Integration

Search within Google Wave is also real time and it taps into Twitter.  Google created “Twave,” a gadget that pulls in tweets from a Wave and includes the user’s Twitter images.  You can respond to the Tweets within Google Wave, and they go back to Twitter.  This is great, but the real time search features is killer.  Google search will scan Twitter in real time and provide new results as they happen (are Tweeted).  A real time, evolving search!

Twave is probably developed for two reasons.  First, to embrace Twitter and the millions of users.  This is a smart move because Twitter has a lot of momentum (just like Yahoo did a few years ago…) and Google would be foolish to take them head on.  With integration to Twitter, Google can slowly start to attract users from Twitter, get them hooked on Google Wave, and eventually take over the space (again like they did to Yahoo).  Second, they can use the tool to evaluate a Twitter acquisition.  They will have first hand knowledge of the characteristics of Twitter users and make a more informed buying decision.

What This Signifies

Google sees Twitter, Facebook and a number of other sites moving fast into the real time web, and this is their first real step – and it’s a BIG one.  The Real Time search feature is amazing, and the Wave that include streams of communication and content is an amazing idea.  There is still a lot to improve with Google Wave, but that’s the point of an open source application and the reason to build developer APIs.  Let the crowd of developers help build the web.

Businesses of all sizes will grow out of this model and now start ups have the ability to improve on a product backed by a multi-billion dollar company.  Day two certainly made up for a lack luster day one, and signified a jump in the race to the real time web.

Google Wave will officially lauch to the public later this year.

For more information there are a few great reviews at TechCrunch, and  Mashable (this includes a list of the key Google Wave terminology), and Google’s demo video.