I received my Google Wave invite. Now what? What are the best features?

I got a Google Wave invite and didn’t really know what to do. I was quite lost when I first logged on. It took me about a week before I actually started exploring and figuring it out.

I am still at it. Here’s what you can do when you get a Google Wave invite. 1.

Add the person who sent you the invite in your Contact list. 2. Start a wave thanking the person who sent the invite.

This is getting your feet wet. 3. I think the Contact list shows your Google contacts who already have Wave account.

I am assuming this since Wave showed me only my limited contacts. I could be wrong. 4.

Start a wave (more like a conversation really) with someone you know. 5. You may be added to other waves by your contacts.

Join the conversation with them. 6. And when you get to invite others to Wave, send out invites to people who will join you in the conversation.

I started a wave to discuss what Google Wave is all about. I have added folks to the same wave as they I sent out new invites to more people I knew. My first impressions about Google Wave: * Wave seems an enhanced collaborative tool.

It’s got elements of discussion forum, IM, Twitter, email all in one. * Not for the weak hearted. Takes some time get used to.

And you have to actually start using it to understand more about how it functions. * Waves with many people can get long and confusing. Sure, you can play back every step how the wave was created, but I think most will just read the wave top down.

And if the wave is long then it is a lot of reading. * There’s no ‘email alert’ if you add others to a wave, or when you are added by others to a wave. I felt some people were ignoring me when didn’t respond to my waves, when it was just that they didn’t know a new wave was started with them included in it.

You need to visit the Google Wave site to see what’s new. I think the intent is that it will eventually replace email (perhaps, who knows). And you don’t get an email alert when receive an email… duh!

I was however expecting an email alert on any wave activity, like the one I get when there’s Facebook activity on my account. * You can see what others are typing as they type. Looks cool initially but gets irritating after a while.It is very hard to focus on screen when characters are moving around.

And you can see exactly what mistakes the other person is making and how they are correcting them. Very disconcerting! * There’s no title or subject assigned to a wave.

A little hard to keep track of what the wave is about based on the preview of the fist message in the wave. * When a wave has been updated with new messages, it is highlighted (shows up as Bold). You need to navigate the whole wave to figure out what’s new on that wave.

Doesn’t directly show what’s new in the wave. * You can’t delete waves. You can only Unfollow them.

Not sure what happens if everyone unfollows a wave. * Apparently there are many command line actions that do many things on Google Wave. I didn’t bother trying them out.

Hopefully Wave will be released with more WYSIWYG commands. We’ve been too spoilt to bother with command line actions.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.