Google Wave invites are the latest fad to hit the net.  There is no shortage of opportunists out there looking to take advantage of it.

Here’s some brief points on what not to do, and some advice on the quickest and most effective methods to get yourself that invite you are looking for.

Do Not:

• Respond to Twitter spam claiming you will receive an invite if you re-tweet or follow. It’s a lie, and Twitter is banning accounts for encouraging this. You can report them to @spam. Do not re-tweet them, as you may be banned yourself.
• Bid on Google Wave invites on Ebay. These listings are a violation of the terms of service, and are probably scams, in addition. You can report these to Ebay if you come across them.
• Post randomly on every blog or forum you can find begging for an invite.  You will be wasting your time.
• Fill out surveys online in response to offers for an invite.  These are scams. Report the url to the survey site.
• Attempt to buy an invite through PayPal or some other method online.
• Put in multiple requests for multiple accounts to the official site for requesting an invite from Google. They know what you are doing, and they won’t reward you for it.

Do:

• Sign up at the official site from Google and add yourself to the waiting list.
• Sign up at Google Wave Invites and request one from here.
• Once you have your invite, return to Google Wave Invites and donate your extras so that others can receive them.
• If you insist on spamming blogs, articles, forums, etc with requests, at least make them original and motivational.

Google Wave is the latest big thing from Google, and we’re all looking forward to trying it out.  I’ve yet to get an invite myself, but if I do I will be sharing them with others.  Please be patient, and when you have your invite, remember how you got it, and be generous. There’s at least  100,000 of them out there, so chances are if you go looking within the next week, you’ll be o.k.  Not everyone follows tech news as closely as others.  If you do not receive your invite, just be patient.  Once Google releases a large amount, the second batch is never too far away from the first.

Good luck, everyone.  Please do not support the scammers and liars.  If you see one of the deceptive attempts at exploiting users listed above, take the time to report them and help educate others.

And while you’re here, let us know what feature most excites you about Google Wave.  If you can’t think of one, you shouldn’t be worrying about an invite to begin with! If you’ve seen the video, or are already familiar with Wave, what do you like best?