19 Oct 2009, Posted by christie in Blogging Bytes, 32 Comments
How I got started with my Google Wave Preview!
When you first log into Google Wave, you may wonder, what do I do next? For one thing, notice on the lower left side of your screen, any Gmail contacts you had before who have Wave accounts will already appear in the Contacts section. If they are online, they will have a green dot, the online indicator. Once you get started Waving, you will be able to drag contacts into waves any time you like. Note – you can not drag them back OUT of waves, so be sure you really want them in that conversation before you add them. You can always copy a wave and re-invite the people you do want though, in case you get desperate to lose someone.
If you want to get one of your online contacts’ attention, click on them and select the button to Ping them. That will open a message on their screen and they can respond to you.
If you want to check out public waves where anyone is welcome to join in, go to the search box and type with: public + any search terms you want to see. By typing with: public mbti I found a wave where people were talking about personality types. Notice there is a light purple buffer area where someone is typing, but we can watch her as she types. We can click to reply anytime we want, and lots of people can be replying and talking at the same time.
I would love to use Wave to collaborate at work someday too, and maybe by the time Wave is more widespread we will all be able to do that. There is a great Help area of Google if you want to know how to do various things like make your wave public, or do something more fancy with a wave. Meanwhile just have fun and enjoy! I did not receive any Wave invites to give out – I was invited by a friend, but if you don’t have Wave yet, I hope you get it soon!
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32 Comments
October 19, 2009 9:33 pm
Jacob Yap
Cool, I just got my Wave lately. Add me too jacob2lame@googlewave.com
Jacob Yap´s last blog ..3 Google Wave Invitations Giveaway
October 20 2009 13:33 pm
christie
Jacob are you using it to collaborate with other students any? To me that would be so cool and such an easy way to share things.
Will do!
October 19, 2009 10:54 pm
Ching Ya
Nice review Christie! Especially the public conversation trick as I have no idea about that. Still quite new and didn’t get much people in my list. Thanks for the free publicity. ^^
So far I’m too, agreeing this can be a nice tool for project collaborations. Although here we don’t have 140 characters restriction. Yay! Great seeing you on Wave. Talk to you soon.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Ching Ya´s last blog ..StumbleUpon Had A Makeover!
October 20 2009 13:35 pm
christie
Thanks so much Ching Ya! I think that if a group, whether for work or school or just people who want to talk about something, have their own wave, they can really enjoy. Everyone in the wave can see it all happening at the same time, and you can Replay if you get lost. I just hate one more reason to stay at the PC longer instead of doing my chores. ;)
October 19, 2009 11:00 pm
Tweets that mention How I got started with my Google Wave Preview! — Topsy.com
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ching Ya, Misc Bytes. Misc Bytes said: How I got started with my Google Wave Preview! http://bit.ly/Nx8A4 [...]
October 20, 2009 2:20 am
Klaus @ TechPatio
It’s pretty cool, but still buggy – I don’t think it’s possible to delete waves just yet.
And I think the only way to find unread messages in a wave with hundreds of messages, is to click on the green badge in the inbox column (I think) then it will take you to each unread message, one at a time… so if there’s a lot, i guess it could take some time .. and they could probably be in various threads too.
I might just look at it the wrong way or don’t understand it completely, though
Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Membership Site: How Yaro Made $211,969 While Traveling Around The World
October 20 2009 13:37 pm
christie
Klaus you're right - I did what they suggested to find the Delete button but there is none right now.
So far I've just gone by what's bold as far as waves with unread content, and I haven't bothered with too many threads, mainly the bottom of the whole waves, since I'm just a tourist for now. I'm just following two public waves, so it's a bit easier right now, but yep I can see where this could get out of hand if it's something you had to stay on top of and had a group of 50 people talking all at once in different places on a wave.
October 20, 2009 8:16 am
chris bailey
At my college we use a different tool for working on our projects online.
Its free and needs no installation since its online, go to http://www.showdocument.com
pretty useful for me since i usually do my projects on the laptop. -chrisman
October 23 2009 13:25 pm
christie
Hi Chris - that looks like a great tool. Totally free - why is everyone not already using that for collaboration instead of waiting and doing without until they can get into Wave? Thanks for your comment and for letting us know about showdocument.com!
October 20, 2009 4:47 pm
Frank J
Not a user of Wave, but it’s something I may consider.
Welcome back!
Frank J´s last blog ..U2 Live Concert on YouTube
October 23 2009 13:23 pm
christie
Hi Frank - Yeah I could easily see Wave being another reason I can't get up from the computer, but on the other hand it's a great way to collaborate with someone or a group. Everyone can talk at once if they want to, and of course you can Replay if you want to see the conversation unwind again.
Thanks!
October 21, 2009 12:56 am
Michael Aulia
Thanks to your screenshot, I’ve added ChingYa to my Google Wave lol. It is kinda lonely there – I’ve sent a few invitations to friends but they haven’t got them yet
Michael Aulia´s last blog ..Microsoft Office 2010 Public Beta – Next month!
October 23 2009 13:26 pm
christie
Hi Michael, Shouldn't take too long! My friend told me he had submitted my name for an invite, and then just two or three days later I had it.
October 21, 2009 3:00 am
Make Money Blogging Online
Can;t wait for google wave to get out. Looks like a neat program by google. Thanks for this post.
Make Money Blogging Online´s last blog ..Blogging – A New Way to Market
October 23 2009 13:27 pm
christie
Yes it will be lots of fun when everyone has it. Should be an IM killer as far as I'm concerned. I do wish they hadn't gotten the Online Now! indicator though.
October 24, 2009 11:23 am
Ana
Looks like a fun and interesting way to connect with others. I sent my request for this when you first posted about this. Have not yet received confirmation or approval, but keep my mind open to anything.
Ana´s last blog ..Alive and Kicking
October 25 2009 22:14 pm
christie
Hope you get your invite soon Ana! I think you'll enjoy it. There are a lot of waves of various topics, and you can jump into any public wave or create a private one to talk to your contact(s) as you wish.
October 25, 2009 5:40 pm
Extreme John
Going through my feed reader today this is like the 10th article about Wave so far today, I really need to look into it and see if I have any use for it.
Extreme John´s last blog ..Best Tanning Salon in Florida
October 25 2009 22:15 pm
christie
Heck yeah, I'll bet you'll enjoy it, and you'd probably have the only or first wave with tanning and limos!
October 26, 2009 8:51 pm
Hesham
I am still waiting for an invitation to join this great party
Hesham´s last blog ..Famous Bloggers are Driving Me Crazy!
October 28 2009 20:16 pm
christie
:) You'll love it! The party never stops!
October 27, 2009 5:00 am
Serious Monday Roundup #14
[...] How I got started with my Google Wave Preview! – When you first log into Google Wave, you may wonder, what do I do next? [...]
October 29, 2009 8:15 am
Ricky
Google wave is still a mystery for me. Lol. I don’t have any invitation or account. Let’s hope that it will be available to public soon.
Ricky ´s last blog ..New WordPress Theme-Right Sidebar With 3 Column Footer
November 2, 2009 6:54 pm
New Jersey Movers
This looks really cool, it’s one of the first times I’ve gotten to see what Wave actually even looks like. Still waiting for a chance to actually try it out but for now I’ll just rely on these screenshots and my imagination, lol
-Jason
November 15, 2009 8:13 pm
Greg Ellison
I didn’t know about the with:public so thanks for showing me that. It is still confusing the whole wave thing. Any thing new it will be different. Thanks Greg Ellison
Greg Ellison´s last blog ..Google Wave Application
November 16, 2009 9:57 am
Tech-Freak Stuff
Wave me at gr8bloggerman@googlewave.com Looking forward to waving your and thanks for the tip! I was not knowing how to enter Public waves.
Tech-Freak Stuff´s last blog ..5 Most Popular Myths regarding Alexa Rank
November 19, 2009 2:27 am
neo
i saw the 1 hr video of google wave..it was gr8 hope it would do well..
neo´s last blog ..
November 25, 2009 6:43 am
Ricky
Where are your new posts? Is everything alright?
Ricky´s last blog ..iPhone Got Hit By Worm Again-But This One Is More Serious
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