# Google Wave

> Google Wave drew a million access requests before its invite-only preview.

- Owner: Google
- Kind: App & software
- Sector: Technology
- Seed date: 2009-09-30
- Peak proxy date: Nov 2009
- Date basis: Proxy date; not a directly measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 36 (Niche, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Scarcity drop, Resale market, Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy

## Summary

Wave opened an invite-only preview after a developer demo. Invite auctions and user-made videos drew coverage. US traffic later surged in November in a Hitwise chart. Google ended standalone development after reporting insufficient adoption.

## Timeline

- 2009-05-28 — Lars Rasmussen / Google (Open web) — Google revealed Wave to developers and published its keynote video before the public preview.
- 2009-09-29 — Google (Open web) — Google announced a limited public preview; WIRED reported over a million requests for access.
- 2009-09-30 — Google (Open web) — Google began inviting the first 100,000 users to its public Wave preview.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/google-wave

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Google Wave.” Case HIS-01631. Spread Score v1.3: 36/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01631