When the invite for Google Wave appeared in my inbox, initially I was very excited. I’d seen and heard about it – although, I confess, I hadn’t watched the video – and finally got to try it out! Having located a few friends who also had it, and sending out invites to those who didn’t, I excitedly created a number of new “waves,” and began trying out the new features.

The fun quickly wore off, as within 5 minutes everyone realised that, yes, you can put in pictures, polls and embed youtube videos, very nice, but without a real purpose, what else was there to do? A friend eloquently described it as “multiplayer Word,” and most waves went stale, with everyone (including me) falling back onto their trusty e-mail chains.

However, the recent snow covering most of the UK unexpectedly revived my interest in Google Wave. A tweet from Caroline Beavon directed me to a newly created wave about the snow in Birmingham – you can view it here – and everything seemed to make quite a bit more sense. Multiple users contributed their pictures, maps and videos of the snow, and Google Wave was a brilliant way to bring all these together.

So, having used Google Wave for the intended purpose, do I think it’s useful? Absolutely. In fact, it was ideal for a project like this. Is it, however, as game-changing as it was once billed? For the vast majority of things, I think it’s an invite-only sledgehammer to crack a walnut, and e-mail shouldn’t be looking over its shoulder just yet.