Google+ Now Lets You Conference People Into Hangouts With Free Voice Calls

http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/01/hangouts-voice-calls/

by sidcool • 15 years ago

115 11 15 years ago

runjake• 15 years ago

It seems like Google+ is going to become highly useful whether you like it or not. I'm not sure whether I like Google+, but I admire Google's endurance behind it.

jamilb• 15 years ago

yeah! let's all hang out on the web!

you go do that, i'll grab a beer with my non-imaginary friends.

betterlabs2• 15 years ago

I don't get it. It just feels like they are trying to do too much too soon. I don't know any other than marketers who are building content on Google+ and I wonder what their engagement metrics look like.

Another thing is for conference calls, there are already several free and dead easy solutions out there, so its unclear who this is aimed at.

mullr2• 15 years ago

What's not to get? This is clearly the leading free multi-way video conferencing solution. My team recently ditched Skype's paid version; it was flaky as all hell, while hangouts is rock solid. This brings me and 6 other people back to google+ every day. It also got 5 of those 6 people to sign up for google+ at all.

So given:

- "hangouts" is a compelling product with early traction (anecdotal but strong)

- it drives continued engagement to their strategic product

- it accelerates google+ adoption by providing a concrete reason for people to register there, because "that's where the meeting is"

Therefore, the right thing to do is to invest more in hangouts.

betterlabs2• 15 years ago

If Google+ is aimed to be a utility then yes, I agree with your point of view. But if they are looking to create a competing product to Facebook then, I am not sure that creating a free multi-way video conferencing solution is the going to help. And, I feel, users who signup to Google+ to use this free service, are not likely to adopt Google+ for their social networking needs just because they are using this free utility.

I agree that Google may acquire a few new users with this but this cannot help them compete with Facebook. They need to get the core (the critical mass, social sharing dynamics etc.) right where as, I feel, they are investing in building utilities to get users which they are not getting based on the basic social networking product.

This is what I meant when I said "I don't get it".

bjelkeman-again2• 15 years ago

What OS and browser are you using this on? On Mac OS X 10.6.x and Safari 4(?) Google Hangout would consistently crash after a few minutes of use. We use video and audio conferencing a lot, so an alternative that actually works to iChat and Skype (hate the new Skype UI) would be very welcome.

scottkrager• 15 years ago

I didn't know anyone but marketers on Twitter in 2007.

Give Google+ time, everyone wants a legit Facebook competitor right now, but it's going to take years not months for Google+ to go mainstream.

Google+ Now Lets You Conference People Into Hangouts With Free Voice Calls

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