The Even Newer Face of Social Media

There has been a new wave of reinvention in social media that has developed over the last year that I’m sure has not only caught my eye. Most notably, I’ve seen the new face of Yahoo! plastered around town as seen in the advertisements. They show all different types of people, whether it be a blatantly homosexual man, a mother and son, a senior citizen, etc. The slogan attached to this campaign is: “The Web The Way You Want It! It’s You!” By doing this, the marketing engineers working at Yahoo have tried to personalize the Yahoo website so that people use it as a platform of self-expression alongside a way to communicate with other people. I’m not sure how well this is playing out for them, considering I know I have no interest in joining this Yahoo application, because I’m perfectly content with my social mediated experiences via Facebook.

Considering that Google is the super power in terms of the internet, it is plausible to say that their version of a social mediated network is more likely to succeed than Yahoo! In fact, until this very week, I had not heard about Google Wave. But when I finally did, I heard about it from multiple sources, all raving about this exciting new technology. I have yet to test it out, but from the descriptions I’ve heard it’s platform in which people can stay connected to one another through email, instant messaging chats, sharing of files, videos, and links and plenty of other cool applications, all in one place. The catch is that you can only share with other Google Wave friends, and as of now, you’re limited to inviting 5 friends at a time. This reminds me of an updated version of AOL when AOL was actually cool. In fact, I remember counting down the minutes towards the end of my school day because I couldn’t wait to get back home and sign online to chat with the friends I just spent eight hours in class with. Pathetic, I know, but is Facebook really any different? People use Facebook at varying levels but at the end of the day the necessity to be socially connected prevails. I think that Google Wave is probably the next generation of email, (they always seem to be a step ahead) and online communication processes as a whole. It sounds like an innovative way to look at something our generation has been practicing most of our lives.

I do a poor job explaining this new technological advancement, but for any of you interested in learning more about Google Wave in a cute 2 minute reel, watch this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDu2A3WzQpo&feature=player_embedded