If you’re still waiting, like many eager wavers-to-be, to get your invite to Google Wave, chances are you’re starting to wonder if it’s going to live up to expectations. After all, it’s a bit like waiting to see an overhyped movie like Twilight or Titanic, there’s always the possibility of it just being good, rather than astounding.
While Google has done an excellent job of turning up the anticipation level on their latest release, some of the lucky few who have their invites are starting to share experience. So, what are they saying about the Wave? Let’s take a look at some of the favorite features.
1. Wave extensions. The ability to manage everything from within Google Wave is a big reason people love using it so far. They can manage just about everything they do online just through Wave, making it easier to access everything.
2. Embeds. The web is buzzing with ideas for embedding waves (individual conversations, complete with all that entails, photos, files, etc.) into any webpage. The possibilities here are huge and you can essentially share any conversation with the world in minutes. It’s even possible to drag and drop a wave into your outgoing emails.
3. Playback. This feature is a great one if you come in late to a conversation or end up missing part of it. Rather than sifting through the entire conversation, you play it back and get the general idea of things right from the start.
4. Private settings. If you are collaborating on a wave with several other people and want to say something specifically to one person, you can talk to them privately. It’s essentially like a DM on Twitter and allows you to keep the conversation private.
5. Conference calls. By using the Ribbit application, you can set up conference calls that are automatically organized without anyone seeing anyone else’s phone number. Privacy while talking online could be handy, but the real benefit here is the ability to create a wave while you are in your conference call.
Google Wave has plenty to show us and the search engine giant is still working on many of the features which we can expect to see in the near future. Some are already working in a basic form, but will improve over the next few months. If you haven’t received your invite yet, hang in there, it looks like this is worth the wait!
Posts
