It’s never an easy decision to kill off a brand, particularly a geeky brand that was all the rage just a year ago. So, not surprisingly, Google’s announcement yesterday to pull the plug on Google Wave, a real-time communication/collaboration app, is not going over so well this morning with die-hards who’ve taken to Twitter, Facebook and blogs to voice their displeasure with Google. In real-time.

We looked at this phenomenon a month ago when Microsoft killed its Kin. Discontinuing a product/brand/app with any kind of following in this age of Likes and fans and followers and subscribers is bound to draw a backlash. And with Google Wave, it’s no different. The groans and grumbles have been trending on Twitter and are dominating the Google Wave Facebook wall as we see here:

And how has Google responded to all this outpouring of confusion and grief? The company still hasn’t acknowledged the Google Wave shut-down on its Facebook page.  And from the Google Twitter feed we get this cold, terse death notice:

All the detail can be found (and there’s not much of it) on a single blog post from Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Operations & Google Fellow, who says thanks for your support, but that “we don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects.” For anyone who knows Google’s track record, that’s the kiss of death. It will be on to the next big thing, like its Facebook killer plans. The blog post offers no chance to ask a question of the developers, not even an FAQ.

Doesn’t Google owe its thousands of Wave users (many of whom think Wave is awesome) a better explanation than a brief blog post? Or, is this the new dynamic between companies and brands in the digital age, where we have to anticipate that the developer will pull the plug at any moment and then we’re on our own?