Exactly one year ago today, a product that was supposed to represent a new and innovative means of communication debuted at Google I/O.  Now, Google’s celebrating Wave’s first birthday by trying to convince a few more people to give the tech a chance.

That observation isn’t necessarily meant to slight Google Wave or the team behind it; almost any time a company chooses to commemorate something, one purpose must be to attract new users (and/or reengage old ones).  It’s just that an official blog post concerning Wave’s birthday focused more on promoting it than distributing stickers or some other nonsense.

Anna-Christina Douglas, a product marketing manager at Google, appealed to ordinary individuals by writing, "[T]he ways I use Wave aren’t revolutionary or groundbreaking – I communicate about everyday things, but it is these incredibly ordinary and important communications that are transformed in unexpected ways when you use Wave."

She later added, "I’ve been struck by the really personal nature of communicating and working together in Wave, and the emotional response people have to their first uniquely wavey experience, what we call the ‘Wave a-ha moment.’ . . .  You really do have to try it to believe it, though – so if you checked out Google Wave six months ago and found yourself at a bit of a loss, take another look."

Happy first birthday to Google Wave, then, and here’s hoping the rest of you have a good Memorial Day weekend.