If you’re not quite sure what Google Wave is, I would suggest you watch this awesome video before reading this post:

The Google Wave interface has three columns which are very similar to an Outlook / Entourage interface with your folders/contacts, inbox, and finally the messages preview pane. It could be described as a hybrid between Messenger, Email and Facebook to a certain extent. Once you start actually using it, things slowly fall into place, but until you do so, it’s pretty hard to explain or understand.

Google Wave is like real-time email, and you can easily add hundreds (!!) of people to a Wave. Once you include gadgets, things start getting a bit out of control! Gadgets let you drop in pretty much anything into a conversation; Sudoku, maps, videos, voting buttons and anything else that people will develop in the future.

I really like Google Wave, however there are still loads of improvements to be made… Waves get messy and it’s actually quite hard to find out who’s added what.

Google Wave gives you the option to replay the Wave to see the full conversation, however I don’t think I would have the patience to watch a very long Wave being re-played in front of my eyes! Can you imagine how long it would it take to replay 250+ messages?

Will Google Wave replace emails? I don’t think so, not at the moment anyway. I see Google Wave being used in addition to emails. Say for instance, you needed to brainstorm ideas, you could easily add the whole office to a Wave, as well as your clients to contribute to various ideas. Your client would be able to upload files, leave feedback etc on the spot.

We’ve created a number of Waves to play with the service; let me know if you’d like to be included in any of these:
- London gWave Contact List
- Figuring out Google Wave
- Google Wave 101 Do’s and Don’ts
- Social Media Resource Library
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