Okay Geek Farm
Dear Diary, Google Wave - Part 2
Ricardo Trejo
Google Wave - Days 3, 4, 5:
Still no invites sadly, but I'm keeping my hope alive.
So before I go a little in depth on Wave let me answer a few questions. Why is Google Wave such a big deal? What does it do? And why should it be important to you?
Google's definition of Wave is this:
Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
Continued after the break [...]
Some have gotten the strange notion that it's meant to replace email, which I do not agree with at all. I can see it being implemented with email but never replacing it, not in it's current state anyway. Certain groups are making it to be something that it isn't, and the expectations are high, because... well, face it, Google makes quality products. But I'll tell you what Wave is and isn't. Wave is meant to bring together groups of people; to help them view, edit, and participate together in a single place, and in real time too.
For example: Let's say you run a blog with a couple of friends of yours. You want their feedback on an idea you have, but are incapable of meeting all of them at once on an instant messenger chat, and you don't want to deal with forwarded emails and separate replies. This is where Google Wave comes in. You write a Wave, you choose who you want to see it, and as soon as it's sent everyone can view it and see all the replies, or edits, done to it from that point on - A one stop shop that helps you and your team solve time management and communication problems.
Public Waves
Now, let's move onto Public Waves. Since I can't delve too much into private waves, as I'm still without contacts, let me explain on what I can do.
In the search box on the left hand side if you type "with:public" (without the quotes) you're going to see a ton, and I mean a bunch, of waves flood the inbox panel. Oh, and just to note, there are a number different shortcuts to use on the search box - with:, creator:, & has: are just a few of them. Check out the full list of advanced search options here.
Now what a public wave is, well pretty much that, a wave that can be seen by everyone. When you're doing a private wave the only people who can see it are those whom you designate. In a public wave it acts a bit like Twitter, but without that annoying 140 character limit. Do a quick search and find a wave with people of like minds on a topic and chat away. It's a much different sort of world than Twitter, but its feel is almost the same since its simplicity is what makes it appealing.
As you see in the image above I did a search on gaming, but then stumbled upon a wave about social media. I then clicked on it and the discussion popped up into the right panel, also known as the wave panel. In this public wave anyone can view, edit, or reply anything they want and all the changes will show up in real time to you and everyone else. Oh, and just to clarify, the messages in the Wave panel are known as blips. So when you write something that's a blip, and then when someone else replies to you, that too is a blip. Know the lingo.
The public waves are an interesting feature since it could open up many new ways for companies, or big famous people, to get their product or views out there, and get immediate feedback from their customers and/or fanbase.
