I wrote a post about Google Wave recently on my personal blog moaning about how I was still waiting for an invite. Today, I have finally received my login and it definitely has been well worth the wait. For those of you who have been living under a rock, Google Wave allows for real-time communication and collaboration. Google Wave is currently in preview mode with only 100,000 people who were initially given access to it.

When I first logged in to Google Wave, I was fortunate enough to have my one and only Wave contact online as well. So together we set about learning and experimenting with Google Wave.

Collaborating in a discussion with multiple Wavers

Here’s how it works: In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It’s concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.

Having toyed with Google Wave almost the whole of today, there is no doubt that there are a lot of creases that need to be ironed out but overall Google Wave has lived up to the hype. I have been able to do the basic features such as IM (with real time typing display), create waves, send attachments, organise waves into folders e.tc but in addition to these, I have also been able to collaborate with other “Google Wavers” in a group discussion. Also using Google Wave Gadgets and Robots, I have been able to easily insert maps into waves by just typing a postcode, ask any question I want and get an instant answer (accuracy is around 70%), embed videos and some “Google Wavers” have also been able to tweet from within Google Wave using Tweety.

Adding a map in a wave

Google Wave is a great tool to use within an office environment for collaboration between team members but it also has ample features such as instant messaging, integration with social media sites, games e.t.c that is sure to attract the younger generation.

Asking BingyBot a question through Google Wave

Further Information -

• A complete guide to Google Wave
• Google Wave 101
• Top 11 Google Wave robots