Hi, I'm Margie Newman. I blog about public relations, social media, careers, productivity and geek stuff.

Riding the Wave: it’ll be more fun when the beach gets crowded

Google Wave navigation screenI’ve now had four days on Google Wave (if you want a quick primer, go here) and I really dig what it could mean for future office collaboration and editing. Not to mention how it will change the way we think about email.

It’s hard to explain what Wave really is, but I’m having fun with it. At this point though it’s very much like hubby describes it: “a glorified chat room.”

We’ll need more folks Waving with us (only 10 of my contacts have Wave access) — and more features, Gmail integration, etc — before we’ll really discover and appreciate its potential. In the meantime, a few quick observations:

Potential use I love most:

Live editing – in theory, you could invite the five folks who have to review and approve your copy/press release/statement/etc. to a Wave and everyone could tear up your draft make their edits while the everyone else is watching in real-time. Within minutes, you could have an approved draft for release; and if someone wanted to see how those edits were made, by whom and in what order, you can invite them to that Wave to “play back” the conversation.

Thing that scares me:

Folks must watch you type: at this point, anything you type is visible to the person you are Waving with — as you are typing. So all those typos and Freudian slips will unfold like a train wreck. Not cool, Google. I’m ready for that little “Draft” box to actually be clickable so I don’t break out into a sweat when I start putting thoughts to pixels.

Oh, and I’m not ignoring you JM, AH, Matt, TL, etc. Although I received my Wave invite because Dave shared one with me, I don’t yet have invites to send around. If/when I am granted some, I’ll share! I promise!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Google Wave explained in two minutes

Google Wave is gonna rock your worldAt most, my attention span holds up for about one hour, after that, good luck to you. This flaw is why I’ve yet to take the time to watch the two hour Google Wave intro video, which hubby has declared a must-watch. Thankfully, this guy has opened my eyes to the world wonder that is Google Wave in just TWO MINUTES.

Watch it and allow your jaw to drop as mine just did. And hey, Google, give dude an invite!

YouTube Preview Image

Hat tip: Lifehacker

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]