Without a doubt, Google’s Gmail is one of the favored tools of many web workers. Launched in 2004, it initially gained lots of traction with users of free e-mail services because it offered much more storage capacity than Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and other choices. Since then, its spam filtering, its central conversation-driven metaphor, its integration with other Google offerings and more have driven its popularity. Recently, Google put out an open call to Gmail users to send in unique, creative and productive ways that they’re using the application, including video-based demonstrations.

You can now view many of these stories and inventive applications. According to Miriam Schneider, Associate Product Marketing Manager at Google, the company received over 1,500 e-mail responses and a number of video-based stories and demonstrations. You can view these online now. “You might even discover a new way to use Gmail that you’d never considered,” says Schneider, in a blog post at Google’s site.
Google has a collection of video-based stories and examples available now on YouTube. You can also read through many of the e-mail stories online .
At first glance, many of the submissions seem to create a fairly self-serving set of testimonials for Google and Gmail, but if you sift through several of them some notable themes emerge. For example, numerous users state that they favor Gmail because it does a better job of eliminating spam than other e-mail clients do, which I have found to be true. Many other people cite the free storage capacity it offers as an attraction.
If you’re looking to expand your Gmail skills, we’ve got a number of posts that can help you do, including ways to crank through your Gmail messages, Gmail efficiency tips, ways to use filters to unclutter your inbox, and ways to use Gmail as your social networking hub. In the post on ways to crank through your Gmail messages, make sure to read the nearly 60 comments from readers and the many tips there.
Do you have any unusual, creative ways to use Gmail?
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