My COM 509 Personal Learning Network Project on Google Wave. A brief overview of Google Wave and how to use it in public relations.

1. A New Opportunity for Public Relations
By Kelsey Tindle
COM 509 – Fall 2010

2.  Google Wave is a unique new approach to real time communication
online. The new platform combines email, instant messaging,
document collaboration and browser functionality for communication
in real time and the resulting “wave” is accessible in a single window.
 You can then drag and drop contacts or extensions into the real time
conversation. Portions of the wave can also be played back or edited by
users who may have missed some of the conversation
 The real time communication means that Wave reports exactly what
you’re typing as you’re typing the characters
 Information from SS PR Firm’s Blog: http://sspr.com/public-relations-
blogging/online-communications-concept

3.  Google Wave emerged from the question, “Why do we have
to live with divides between different types of
communication… Could a single communication model
span all or most of the systems in use on the web today, in
one smooth continuum? How simple could we make it?”
 In the creator Lars Rassmussen’s own words; “A ‘wave’ is
equal parts conversation and document, where people can
communicate and work together with richly formatted text,
photos, videos, maps, and more”.
 Quote pulled from MyMediaInfo Blog:
http://blog.mymediainfo.com/mymediainfo-blog/?p=163
(Generated from a StumbleUpon search)

4.  This short video introduces and explains Google Wave:
 http://www.youtube.com/user/googlewave

5.  To summarize:
 A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can
communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos,
maps, and more.
 A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the
content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets
anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
 A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can
have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.
Google Wave has had some kinks in the past, but the company has made many
improvements to the application. Google Wave now sends you emails when
waves change and it is easier to navigate to unread parts of a wave. You can also
remove participants added by mistake, and Google has added a new extensions
gallery.
 Information from the Social Media Today Blog:
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/108923

6.  What are people using Wave for?
 Personal
 Education
 Business
 Journalism
 Organizations and conferences
 What are developers building for the future of Wave?
 Productivity gadgets
 Communications tools
 Rich-media gadgets
 Games

7.  Businesses: Co-workers at many different companies are using Wave. From
writing software code at Lyn and Line and coordinating ad campaigns at Clear
Channel Radio to international project communications for Deloitte’s As One
project Google Wave is an easy way to communicate between co-workers.
 Education: University students and professors worldwide have used waves in
and out of the classroom. Waves have been used to collaborate on Latin poetry
translations and to write academic research papers. Some teachers even feel
that students learn better from the interactivity that Wave offers than with
traditional reading.
 Creative collaboration: Waves make it easier for groups to review and critique
multimedia content like images and videos. Waves can be used to create virtual
art classes or write online guides. Some people have even been experimenting
with the uses for Wave in the gaming world.

8.  Organizations and conferences: The Debatewise Global Youth panel
used waves to explore climate change across 100 countries at the
eComm (Emerging Communication Conference). LCA 2010 conference
and HASTAC 2010 used Wave to help track speaking sessions. Waves
are being used in the same way at the Google I/O conference. Wave
allows people at conferences or lectures to communicate
simultaneously with each other and even create their own collaborative
version of the lecture’s notes.
 Journalism: Mashable has used Wave to interview journalists on the
future of journalism and The Seattle Times experimented with a public
Wave to develop their Pulitzer Prize-winning news coverage.
ChicagoNow also experimented with ways to use waves to engage their
userbase.
 Information gathered from the Google Wave Website -
http://wave.google.com/using-wave.html

9. Here are some more of Google Wave’s most useful innovative features:
 Embedding: Waves can be embedded on any blog or website.
 Applications and Extensions: Just like a Facebook application or an
iGoogle gadget, developers can build their own apps within waves. They
can be anything from bots to complex real-time games.
 Wiki functionality: Anything written within a Google Wave can be edited
by anyone else, because all conversations within the platform are shared.
Thus, you can correct information, append information, or add your own
commentary within a developing conversation.
 Open source: The Google Wave code will be open source, to foster
innovation and adoption amongst developers.
 Natural language: Google Wave can autocorrect your spelling, even going
as far as knowing the difference between similar words, like “been” and
“bean.” It can also auto-translate on-the-fly.
 Drag-and-drop file sharing: No attachments; just drag your file and drop
it inside Google Wave and everyone will have access.
 Key features according to Mashable.com: http://mashable.com/2009/05/28/google-wave-
guide/

10.  In addition, Google Wave has somewhat of its own language and understanding
these key terms will help you understand Google Wave more:
 Wave: A wave, specifically, refers to a specific threaded conversation. It can include just
one person, or it can include a group of users or even robots (explained below). The best
comparison I can make is that it’s like your entire instant messaging (IM) history with
someone. Anything you’ve ever discussed in a single chat or conversation is a wave.
 Wavelet: A wavelet is also a threaded conversation, but only a subset of a larger
conversation (or a wave). It’s like a single IM conversation – a small part of a larger
conversation and a larger history. Wavelets, though, can be created and managed
separately from a wave.
 Blip: Even smaller than a Wavelet, a Blip is a single, individual message. It’s like a single
line of an IM conversation. Blips can have other blips attached to them, called children.
In addition, blips can either be published or unpublished (once again, it’s sort of like
typing out an IM message but not yet sending it).
 Document: A document actually refers to the content within a blip. This seems to refer
to the actual characters, words, and files associated with a blip.

11.  Extension: An extension is a mini-application that works within a wave. So these are the
apps you can play with while using Wave. There are two main types of extensions:
Gadgets and Robots
 Gadgets: A gadget is an application users can participate with, many of which are built
on Google’s OpenSocial platform. A good comparison would be iGoogle gadgets or
Facebook applications.
 Robots: Robots are an automated participant within a wave. They can talk with users
and interact with waves. They can provide information from outside sources (i.e. Twitter)
or they can check content within a wave and perform actions based on them (i.e. provide
you a stock quote if a stock name is mentioned).
 Embedded Wave: An embedded wave is a way to take a Google Wave and the
conversation within it and place it on your website. Users could use this as a chat room, as
a way to contact you, or for something more.
 Terms and definitions from Mashable.com: http://mashable.com/2009/05/28/google-
wave-guide/

12.  Google Wave combines all elements of social media including micro-blogging, blogging,
Twittering, RSS and many other tools and will definitely have an impact on the way
information is transferred in the PR industry.
 With the addition of Google Wave everyone becomes a journalist. The real-time
functionality that the application offers allows anyone to create and publish PR and
report news. News stories can be published by regular citizens as well as traditional
journalists. This will pose a challenge to PR professionals because they are now facing a
24 hour news cycle that never sleeps.
 Google Wave also redefines the way PR people communicate with their publics. Instead
of sending out lots of press releases, PR professionals can communicate with target
publics in real time, and also receive their feedback immediately. Valeria Maltoni from
Conversation Agent describes this development by saying that Google Wave “treats
media as a process, where the truth could emerge from many voices and forms”.
 Google Wave will not replace traditional PR methods, but it will offer another way for PR
professionals to communicate in real time with their publics and to interact with them in
ways that were not previously possible.
 Quote pulled from MyMediaInfo Blog: http://blog.mymediainfo.com/mymediainfo-
blog/?p=163

13. These Google Wave extensions are particularly useful for PR so add them and start
experimenting today!
 Bloggy- publishes the content of waves to a blog site. Add blog-wave@appspot.com to
your contact list and test it out yourself.
 Bit.ly-bot- Add bitly-bot@appspot.com to your contact list and then add this user
whenever you want to shorten URLs inside Waves. It will do that automatically. You can
also use the same Wave just to shorten the URL whenever needed.
 iWave- Allows you to create a profile on Wave by using Facebook connect. To use iWave,
open a new Wave, click on the green button, and add this widget URL:
http://gadget.wave.to/iWave/iWave.xml
 Starify- allows you to bookmark Waves. Add Starify’s email address to your contact list:
starifybot@appspot.com and then you are able to keep track of all your starred waves.
Add Starify user to any wave you want to bookmark, then type the following commands:
 1. /star’ Star a wave
2. /list’ See all your starred waves
3. /delete’ Remove starred waves
 From the Google Wave Website: http://wave.google.com/using-wave.html