5 Things to Do When You First Get Google Wave

If you are lucky enough to get an invitation to Google Wave, you are probably pretty excited to get such a sought after prize, but now that you are logged in to Wave, what do you do now?

At a first glance in Google Wave, you’ll notice there is a navigation box in the top left corner of the interface, a contacts list in the bottom left of the interface, a listing of waves in the middle of the interface, and to the very right of the interface, waves are displayed.

Make Your First Wave

If you click the “New Wave” button at the top of the middle column, a new wave will appear in the right column. At the top of the wave, there is a “+” sign right by your name. If you click this, you can add more participants to the wave.

In the wave, you can add rich-text, pictures, maps, and other media. You might want to learn some helpful hotkeys and keyboard shortcuts too.

If you’re at a loss for what you might use a wave for, you might:

• Plan an event
• Collaborate and brainstorm with other people for a project
• Take notes for a meeting

You can even add gadgets or extensions to your wave.

Install Some Gadgets or Play a Game of Sudoku

Gadgets or extensions are add-ons that add another layer of functionality to Wave. Admittedly, at this time in the preview, there aren’t many gadgets available. If you click on the settings link under navigation (or type in “with:settie” into the search box), an extension settings wave should appear listed. If you click on this, there are a few gadgets you can choose to install/uninstall including a yes/no gadget, maps, weather, and Sudoku.

Add Some Contacts & Edit Your Profile

Chances are the only person you have on your contacts list is the person who invited you to Google Wave. If you know anyone else on Wave, you’ll want to add them to your contacts list. Simply click on the “+” sign at the bottom of your contacts list.

You can also edit your profile and update your status. At the top of your contacts list, simply click on the picture or icon next to your name. A rectangle will pop and you can click the edit profile button to add your details. Underneath your name, you can also update your status.

Search for Public Waves

If you are brand new to Google Wave, it’s quite possible you don’t have many friends (or none at all) on Google Wave. And since you don’t yet have the chance to invite your friends to Wave with you, it can be a lonely world. However, don’t let this ruin your experience. You can find others in a similar position waving in public waves.

Anyone can create a public wave and anyone can join a public wave. Check it out for yourself.

Type in “with:public” to the search box and press enter.

A list of public waves will show up surrounding any topic imaginable. Some are other new wavers waving for the first time and others are joining in discussion the latest technology.

You can narrow down your search too. Say you only wanted to find public waves with cooking recipes. In the search box, you might type in: “with:public recipe” with the word “recipe” being the keyword you want to search for.

Some waves are tagged. Tags are like a label. They are a way to identify a wave. For example, say you wanted to search all public waves that are tagged with “Google Wave.” You can type in “with:public tag:google wave” into the search box.

Tweet

While Google Wave’s main purpose doesn’t seem to be to incorporate other social networking platforms into Wave (although it has the ability), you can even use Twitter with Google Wave.

These are just a few things to get your feet wet. What cool things have you discovered as you’ve messed around with Wave?