What is ‘ping’

Ping is a fast, easy way to start communicating live with your contacts -- it's similar to IMing or chatting, but once you're done pinging, your conversation will become a wave.

To ping one of your contacts, follow these steps:

1. Locate in your Contacts panel the person you'd like to ping.
2. Click the person's name to display his or her profile card.
3. Click Ping Name.
4. Enter in the window that appears whatever you'd like to ping to your friend, and click Done.

When you ping someone, a pop-up window will appear in his or her account, with the message you entered. If the person is online, he or she will receive your ping immediately and can respond to you live. If the person isn't available, the ping will pop up the next time he or she signs in to Google Wave. (When someone's online, you'll notice a green ball in the bottom corner of his or her profile photo, in your Contacts panel.) If you prefer to view your conversation in your Wave panel, rather than the pop-up window, click the Expand icon at the top of the ping window (indicated by two boxes).

One thing to note: you can't initially add multiple people to a ping, but you can add more participants once your ping becomes a wave.