Digital Communication and G. Wave, Part I

So I like G. Wave. A lot. Enough that I feel like I'm starting to sound like a marketing person at points. I've been with it since the beginning, when you wrote poems in an application to be in the Alpha. And I think it's Interesting. Enough to write a blog post about it, clearly.

It should be noted that while I don't follow the social media and Web 2.0 world all that closely, I am a junkie for communication tools. IM, G. Chat, Facebook (in several different ways), Forums, G. Groups, Wikis, Blogs, etc. Twitter I didn't 'get' at first, but it makes much more sense now that I have a smartphone - while Twitter feels like an accessory and FB feels right on a computer, Twitter is perfect on a phone while FB feels... heavy.

Regardless, I like trying these tools (and someone has to). But with the advent of G. Wave (and, I'm sure, others that I don't know about [yet]), I've actually gotten seriously into trying to get people to use it in addition to/rather than current digital communication methods, and the question that's been subtly popping up is 'why do I need yet another tool to communicate?' And that intrigues me, because clearly I have decided that I do. But I don't think it's 'in addition to' so much as 'rather than'.

And now, a brief list of 'What I use digital communication for:' (which you should add to in the comments)

• Connecting with new contacts to set up meetings or ask for information (Primarily E-mail)
• Sending files back and forth (No longer USB keys, this is now E-mail or shared G. Docs)
• Organizing group events (E-mail or FB)
• Discussions about public topics - not group specific (Forums, occasionally blogs or G. Groups)
• Discussions about private topics - group specific (E-mail, G. Groups, Forums)
• Sharing random thoughts (FB, Twitter, Blogs)
• Sharing news items (Forums, Twitter, FB)
• Conversation (G. Chat, IM, FB Chat, E-mail)

What pieces do you use that are not included here?

(more on G. Wave and how it changes this list tomorrow)