As one of many video production companies, we are excited to announce Facebook has a new competitor. It’s Google. So maybe it’s not a new competitor, but the internet isn’t getting any bigger. Actually… the internet is getting bigger. Somebody should tell Google!
Hands On With Google Plus
Right now, there are five main “apps” or “widgets” you can use in Google Plus. All five are highlighted by Google’s own promotional page for Plus. They are as follows:
Circles
Circles is a simple idea, but it’s also brilliant. Allow users to place their contacts into one or more “circles,” such as Friends, Family, Co-workers, etc. Then, when posting to your “Stream” (Google Plus’s version of the Facebook Wall), you can choose which Circles will see the update. You can choose to allow only one Circle’s contacts to see the post, or add multiple Circles to the list. You can even set a Stream update to “public.”
Hangouts
Hangouts is where you will most see how important video editing is to Google’s social plans. And it is very important. Hangouts is essentially a way to create your own custom video chat rooms. You can let one friend know you’ve started a Hangout, or tell entire Circles about it. Anybody who wants to can then come join your Hangout.
Bottom line: multiple people on video chat all in one room. Outstanding. It’s like Chatroulette… only with actual useful functions (because chatting with friends spontaneously is far more engaging over the long haul than chatting with strangers spontaneously).
If you want to see it in action, here’s a video production made yesterday of a Google Plus Hangouts group video chat involving some of the guys from Boing Boing and Etsy:
Instant Upload
Instant Upload is another place Google Plus shows off its love of video editing. Once you’ve added the Google Plus app to your mobile device, it will basically take every photo and video you record with your phone and upload it automatically to a sort of Google Plus holding bay. Then, you can decide whether or not to share it with your friends and Circles after video editing.
So basically it eliminates a step in the photo and video sharing process, letting users skip the manual upload altogether. Nice.
Sparks
Sparks appears to be a kind of Pandora for web content. You tell Sparks what you’re interested in, and it will periodically find and send you content it thinks you’ll like. It’s a cool enough idea, I suppose, but it all depends on how well it works.
Huddles
The Huddles feature isn’t exactly revolutionary. It’s basically a group texting app. Built around your Google Plus Circles, Huddles is a way to let multiple people (chosen by you) in on a text message conversation. There are already mobile apps that do this sort of thing, but there’s no reason Google’s version can’t do the job just as well, or maybe even improve on it.
Visit ReelSEO for the full review. We are excited to see what video production companies do to utilize this new site.
To find out how we can help you with your next video project, call or email us today!
Video Production Chicago
