14 DAY TRIAL // Google+ is designed to counter Facebook, there's no getting around that and it's designed to mimic its best features and improve the ones that can be improved.
There's nothing wrong with that, but Google+ also came with an original feature, that Facebook introduced as well several days later, Hangouts - group video chat.
People loved the ability of chatting with up to 9 of their friends, but Google+ is upping the ante, now that everyone is free to join the social network, with what can be described as "Hangouts 2.0."
"Hangouts uses live video to bring people together, face-to-face-to-face. And from day one, the community has shaped and stretched the feature in amazing ways—from cooking classes to game shows to music concerts," Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of Engineering at Google, explained.
"We're determined to keep this momentum going, and to keep providing new ways to communicate in-person, so we hope you enjoy this week’s round of Hangouts improvements," he said.
Hangouts go mobile
Hangouts is getting a number of improvements and new features. For one, you can now join a hangout from your mobile device.
This has been a long requested feature, Google said it was coming, and it's now making it a reality.
Even more interesting than that are the additions to the Hangouts experience. Google is making it possible to have several other activities while engaged in a Hangout.
Screensharing - show off whatever's on your screen to your friends
Screensharing is a great feature, it enables you to show the ones in the chat what you're seeing: your browser, a game, photos and so on.
It's a great addition when showing off to your friends as well as when sharing something with colleagues.
Sketchpad - doodle while you chat
The Sketchpad is a feature found in most instant messaging clients and for good reason, sometimes it really is easier to draw something than it is to explain it.
And since everyone can join and draw at the same time, it can be great fun too.
Google Docs - documents, spreadsheets, presentations all in Hangouts
This is a really great feature. Google Docs has always been about collaboration and you can already chat with people working on the same document, leave comments and so on.
Adding a video component though makes collaboration a lot more seamless and a lot more like sharing an actual office, even if you're thousands of miles away.
Named Hangouts - video chat centered around topics
A named chat is a great way of getting together with people that share a common interest, whatever that may be, and talk about the things you like. It's a great way of finding people that share your interests.
Hangouts On Air - public broadcasting
Named hangouts come even handier now that you can open up a hangout to everyone. This has been yet another highly requested feature. Hangouts are still limited to 10 participants, but others can join as viewers only as long as you make the hangout public.
Hangouts API - expect a lot of apps to enhance group chat
Finally, if all of these were not enough, Google is also opening up the feature to third-party developers via the Hangouts API, meaning that you'll soon be able to do a lot of fun or useful things while participating in a hangout.
