Although still beta testing, Google Wave, the new form of communication and collaboration online, is expected to be the next big thing on the internet after Twitter.
Google Wave is due to incorporate email, instant messaging and social networking. This means consumers will not need to log in separately to individual social media networks.
Google Wave homepage is likely to be the first point of contact when users browse the internet in future and could become the strongest social platform on the web, according to The Longhaul Insight Report, released at the World Travel Marke by UK travel PR and representation company BGB. The report points out social networks have received more traffic than any other category of website, with online reviews being seen as largely trustworthy. While Hitwise estimates that social networking websites are now the second biggest traffic drivers to websites after search engines.
The report predicts that after the Twitter growth in 2009, the next major disruptive technology for 2010, which tourist boards will need to be considering, is Google Wave. (Travelmole, November 2009)
