So, last week I talked about how awesome Google+ is for separating how you share content. As a refresher, you can use Circles to separate your people into groups eg. “Friends”, “Family," ”Creepy People that I don’t really want to talk to but feel guilty for not adding.”
Now onto the next great part of Google+: Hangouts. Hangouts allow you to do exactly what it says, ‘hangout’ with up to 10 people from your circles at one time, and all for free.
We tested it the other night with my Mother-in-law, and she loved it too. Here’s how it works:
I decided I would host the hangout. I clicked on ‘Start a Hangout’ and when the screen opened, I picked who I wanted to invite to my hangout.
Everyone who was invited saw the invitation in their Google+, and was able to click on it to connect.
Within a few seconds, everyone invited appeared in their own little box screen. We were worried about how this would work when everyone was talking, but as the conversation started flowing we noticed that Google was smart enough to design Hangouts in such a way that when someone is talking, it expands their box so they are the most visible person to everyone included in the chat.
This means that if Grandma is talking from her webcam everyone sees her, if Baby Lula is cooing on another camera than the focus shifts to her. This resolves one of the biggest complaints from my family members any time we do a group chat “I just can’t tell who is talking!”
Now, imagine being able to share video of Lula’s first steps with Grandparents and other family all on the hangout at the same time you are chatting with them. Google+ Hangouts allows anyone on the hangout to share YouTube videos with the rest of the people hanging out too. You can watch them together, laugh together and cry together. To me, THIS is what collaboration is all about!
From a Mom perspective, Hangouts meets so many more of our needs than say, Windows Live Messenger, or Skype would. From a geek perspective, I love the technology behind it.
So, what do you think, do you want to hangout?
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