I showed up and was there for all three hours. I have missed the past two MeetUps, I missed the one tonight also. Do we have to do Amazon payments? Whatever happened to PayPal and cash? There is something moneylike about cash. I like cash.
This was an amazing, amazing gathering. I managed to show up at every single stall. Bumping into Scott and Mark was a nice way to conclude the evening for me. Right before that I bumped into Faraz.
I was very much in my element by the end. Talking to so many people drove up my energy level substantially.
Afterwards I walked over to 41st and 9th. Half way there I got myself a free Red Bull from a Red Bull advertising car driven around by two young models. Red Bull gives you wings, they say.
At the event I met two potential angel investors, and many interesting people, collected many business cards. I might have built a few contacts. Mostly it is about sharing in the energy of fellow entrepreneurs. Otherwise I am not into the dot com space with my startup like almost everyone in the hall was.
I made a point to tell the Zemanta guy how much I appreciated their service. Zemanta has taken my blogging to a whole new level.
Social is central to Facebook. A different kind of social is central to Twitter. But if Google Wave is going to be a mere appendage to the larger Google offerings, social is going to be peripheral. But Google is not trying to enmesh Google Wave to the rest of its offerings. If anything I get the impression Google is working hard to release the pigeon. Fly, pigeon, fly.
Google Wave wants to be fundamental to the web experience like Google Search has been fundamental to the web experience. The word wave is going to become like the word tweet, like the word stream. I like the water metaphors. Water is my favorite substance. Water best represents the inherent formlessness of a nimble mind.
So is a stand alone Google Wave capable of challenging Facebook and Twitter? I am not worried about the stand alone part. Google could not have kept Android in-house like Microsoft has kept Windows in-house. Google Wave is a creature of the wild west. It can not be kept in-house. But releasing the pigeon is also the best possible business decision for Google the company. A vibrant Google Wave will expand the Google space. A vibrant Android is going to vastly expand the Google space. A larger cloud, a more happening cloud just gives more and more room to Google ads. And that is where the money is for Google. Giving away is great business practice. Giving away is tens of billions in new dollars.
So does Google Wave stand to challenge Facebook and Twitter, the two services that seemed to have stolen the buzz from Google these past few years? The short answer is Google Wave is the next big thing.
Just like Twitter stole the buzz from Facebook, Google Wave is going to steal the buzz from Twitter. Twitter will still be around like Facebook is still around and growing, but the sexy glow is going to shift over to Google Wave.
The question again pops up: so, what's the next big thing after Wave? The next big thing after Wave might no longer be in that 2D space occupied by Google, Facebook, Twitter and Wave. (Google's Newest Venture: Google Ventures) Wave attempts something that is very close to face to face communication. Maybe the next, next big thing is face time itself. Maybe the next, next, next big thing is not in the technological realm, but in the human realm.
Or maybe I am a little premature in my declaration. If the next thing after the stream was the wave, maybe the next thing after the wave will be the tsunami. (Of Waves And Tsunamis) Tsunami might be a technological development. We might realize when a million or 10 million - or a hundred million Chinese - create waves, we end up with a tsunami, and that tsunami can not be intelligently handled by the current wave technology, it needs a whole new set of tools and massive, new capabilities. The sum is not the whole of the parts. The sum is a whole new reality. A cell is made up of atoms, but a cell is a new level of reality.
Twitter has been more interesting to me than Facebook for months now. I was up at 1500 friends at Facebook and Facebook went ahead and deleted my account. I created a new one. I have less than 600 friends now with about 70 friend requests I have not approved.
My number one urge at Facebook was I wanted to say hello to people I had not met, but wanted to say hello to. I wanted to meet new people. But I kept hitting glass walls and ceilings.
At Twitter meeting new people is all the rage. That is why I like Twitter so much.
You create a wave by inviting people, so you start out by limiting yourself to people you already know. But person A knows person B knows person C knows person D, but person A does not know C and D. So a wave can be created with a group of people who don't all know each other. And ultimately a wave can be published like a blog post. At that point anyone can participate, not necessarily in the same wave, but there are comments sections, you can link to a wave, you can quote from it.
Twitter was an answer to a major gripe I had with Facebook. Why can't I meet new people? Wave might be an answer to my other Facebook gripe. Why can't I deepen my relationship with my existing friends? A wave lets you deepen your understanding of people around you. Conversations and collaborations like never before become possible.
Of course the wave is social. So if the wave is social and if it is the next big thing after Facebook and Twitter, does it stand to challenge Facebook and Twitter?
I am not predicting the death of Facebook, I am not predicting the death of Twitter. But the two have just been told they are but niche products. Ultimately all products are but niche products.
Google has owned Blogger for years now, and only now is has come up with a gadget called search. This is unforgivable for the premier search engine. You could still have done custom search through Google AdSense, but that hassle has been so unnecessary.
Search makes a blog simple. People don't have to read through lists of blog post titles to find out something of relevance and interest. It has been quite a hassle to create contents pages. Suddenly my blogs feel so much more accessible.
Custom search for AdSense simply refused to work with private blogs that can be wonderful online office spaces. That problem persists. Why can't you search a private blog? If you can search a private Gmail account? Google needs to work on this.
The difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 is that Web 2.0 is social. (Each Snowflake Is Unique) To me the inherent beauty of the web is that it has, it will make big political, social, economic changes possible, big as in huge, humongous huge.
In 1995 Bill Gates talked of "business at the speed of thought," and that was before he "got" the internet. I am talking about political, social and economic change at the speed of imagination. (Barackface: Political Sci-Fi) Could we take democracy to every country on the planet? The non-violent way? Could we end racism? Sexism? Could we end human trafficking? Could we end slavery, bondage? Yes, they still exist. Could we eradicate poverty? Could we make education, health, and credit universally accessible? Could we pour a trillion dollars into microfinance? Could we have a democratic world government? Could we end female infanticide? Could we end female circumcision?
Google Wave could make possible political, social, economic tsunamis. Big things might become possible.
http://nytm.org/showcase
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