Okay, name the last time you had a video chat using your social networking account on Facebook and Twitter. No, no, fancy add-ons don’t count. Just straight video chat without having to put in the extra effort. Anyone? Anyone?
Well, so long Facebook and Twitter,
GooglePlus
If you haven’t already noticed, GooglePlus is hitting the various Google vices and seeping into our lives sort of the way you cook a frog. Start slowly and before you know it the water is boiling hot, right?
YouTube
If you log into your YouTube account, and you happen to have a GooglePlus profile, you probably noticed that little prompt that asked if you wanted to merge your YouTube and GooglePlus accounts. If you have done a search while logged into your GooglePlus profile, and happen to follow quite a few people, you may see that little “plus one” besides one or two of the searches that come up. Not to mention its latest announcement of merging GooglePlus into the Google Shopping feature.
When this social network launched, it wasn’t deemed the latest social network for the masses like Pinterest and Twitter. Instead, the users of the social network were deemed the geeks and tech-obsessed of the social networking universe (and proudly so, by the way).
Google Hangouts
Lately businesses have started paying attention to a little known, yet growing feature entitled, “Google Hangouts.” You are allotted up to 10 people at a time to “hang out” at a time. No, this may not seem like a lot at first, but expand your ideas of communicating with your colleagues, co-workers, customers, friends and families and you can open up a new world of reaching your customer base and communicating with those around you. Not to mention, you can actually stream your hangouts onto a live feed on your YouTube Channel (remember what I told you about that frustrating prompt? well, here’s why it’ll eventually come in handy).
Not only have businesses caught wind of this new technology, but so have politicians. Maryland’s first lady Catherine Curran O’Malley held a Google Plus hangout on the subject of anti-bullying efforts. Even artists like Alicia Keys have taken advantage of the Hangout feature.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2DeddWNk7I[/youtube]
While the technology isn’t without its complaints and hiccups (the 10 person maximum is a tad annoying), its making GooglePlus stand out in a way that it’s needed to since the launch of the new social network. It isn’t Facebook yet, but fix up your hair, and make sure nothing is in your teeth, because the next hangout may be near you.
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