Yes, I got my Wave invite. If you don’t know what Google Wave is – then you have no idea how big of a deal this is.

Google sent out 100,000 invites to use their new tool – Google Wave (what is Wave? I’ll get to that in a minute). Out of this 100,000 people (of which I was not one) they gave the option to invite 8 people. From there I got 2 invites (yes, I knew 2 of the 100,000 well enough to get an invite – my geek credentials should be soring right now).

So what is Google Wave?

Here’s the debate. According to the rumors before Google Wave was introduced it was something to replace all current social media networks (like Facebook, Twitter, etc…). It’s not that at all – it’s a work collaboration tool. Of course, if you read Robert Scoble’s scathing review of Google Wave you would know that already. My one critique of Mr. Scoble’s review is that he’s forgetting it’s a very raw Beta he’s playing around with. This is not a tool meant for the mass market – yet.

I think Google Wave has a lot of potential to do exactly what Google set out to do with it – which is to create a collaboration tool which will replace email. However, at this time the use and appeal is limited. Right now Google Wave would only be good for working directly with someone directly.

For example, I wrote an article yesterday for a friend who works in a newspaper on the east coast in the US. While I am a writer I’m not a journalist, so I have to admit I was a bit nervous about the article. I would have liked us to be able to have a real-time conversation inside the article itself where I could go point by point on things I wasn’t sure about and get his feedback. But we couldn’t do that. Instead I emailed him the article (via Gmail) and chatted about it on Google Chat.

And while some people would hate seeing what someone is writing while they are typing I’ve actually liked it from the few conversations I’ve had on there. It allows you to see the thought process – how fast or slow someone is typing shows how strongly they feel about something. Whether they take something out before pressing enter shows even more. Seeing the typing while it’s happening is the tone of the message. However, I would recommend that Google make the option to not see the typing for the Robert Scoble’s of the world – but please keep it for me. Living in Israel so far away from many of the people I collaborate with, having that little extra bit of psychological insight is actually very helpful in my opinion.

Another interesting thing that Google Wave does is get you to fill out your Google Profile in full. I didn’t before Wave – I have now. I’m certain that they will pull these options closer together in the future. Nice manipulation Google.

However, and this is the unfortunate part, at the moment Google Wave has little to no use for me. Other than the “Geek Street Cred” I get for having it, I don’t work with anyone else who is on there. It’s not open for the masses. So yes, I’m on Google Wave and I’ve checked it out a few times. But as my time is scarce, I don’t see myself using it regularly at all. In fact – the first person who invited me on Google Wave hasn’t used it. And that says it all.