Google Wave may come back with Google Me

It should come as no surprise that Google Wave is being shuttered by the end of the year. It’s another in a long line of failed efforts from the search giant. Sure, Wave was pretty much set up to fail as Google didn’t clearly explain how it should be used and made early adoption difficult as people clamored to get an invite.  Buzz was a victim of Google’s model of throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks. Wave was doomed from the beginning and follows long line of failed projects such as Jaiku, Dodgeball, Google Video and Lively. 

According to Google:“But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users can easily “liberate” their content from Wave.”

From Google’s statements, it appears they never intended to support Wave long term. Instead they wanted to work out the kinks so it can be used in another manner. Wave is revolutionary in that it gives you the ability to share photos, videos and comment on them in real time. Could Wave return as built in feature of the Google OS or their Facebook challenger, Google Me? 

Google’s other big project, the supposed Twitter killer Buzz, launched to great fanfare and criticism earlier this year.  Unlike Wave, where you had to get an invite to use it, by having a Google account, you already had an active account. Most people, including myself, weren’t happy with this new feature openly sharing content without the users permission.  Since it’s launch adoption has been slow and it’s impact isn’t as strong as Twitter, Digg or Reddit. Because Buzz hasn’t seen the hype and promotion that Wave had, it makes you question Google’s commitment to the project and if we’ll the axe fall on it next year.

The question now becomes, what does this mean for Google Me. If they stick true to form, Google Me will launch out of Gmail. This means that everyone that has a Gmail account will see it magically transformed into a Google Me profile. Rumors are flying about what features will be a part of the site. I would expect Wave to be a big part of that along with a retooled version of Dodgeball, Jaiku, and Buzz. 

Whatever comes out, expect it have to full support of Google. They want to cripple Facebook and only a major push can have any hope of putting a dent in Facebook's 500 million users. Working in Google's favor is Facebook fatigue. Users of the world's largest social network are starting to look for new sites to join and Google Me could be in the perfect position to exploit that need. While Google has been tight lipped about the Me project, expect details to start trickling out soon. 

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.