Google Wave is the next generation tool for online communication and collaboration, which will be released later this year and which puts together instant messaging, e-mail, photo sharing, forums and wikis, all into one messaging platform.

A wave is made of a complete thread of multimedia messages which enables people to easily communicate and work together using richly formatted text, images, maps, videos and more, allowing users to make real-time modifications to the content.

Here is a brief of the innovative features of Google Waves:

Instant messaging and IRC
You can chat with people on the wave to exchange ideas and solutions.

Editable content
Any content shared on the wave can be modified by any other user on the wave, allowing real-time updates and edits to the information on the wave.

Drag & drop file sharing
You no longer need to attach files, as you can simply drag & drop documents into the wave.

Playback option
You can playback and analyze any part of the wave to see how it progressed.

Embedding
You can embed Google Waves and bring the application on your website and blog.

Natural Language
The wave auto corrects spelling mistakes and translates automatically, just like Google Translate language service.
Google Wave, the next step in social media, will definitely revolutionize the communication and collaboration process between people, by allowing instant interaction and file exchange.