Last night a chatroom changed my life.
But it wasn’t just any chatroom. It was a virtual “hangout,” the group video chat service that is a prominent feature of Google+, Google’s new social-networking service that aims to challenge Facebook..
Digital Diary
One woman’s look at technology and life.
Shortly before bed, I lingered online, checking my various social networking sites when I noticed several friends were in a video chat session on Google+. I put on some pants and clicked my way into the room with six other people….and didn’t leave until nearly 3 in the morning. We spent several hours cracking jokes, making fun of each other’s snacks and welcoming other friends who noticed our group online and dropped in to say hello. At one point, we found YouTube videos with lyrics and turned the chat into an impromptu karaoke room. A few of our other friends dropped into say hello before making their way offline and heading to bed. One friend, Lindsey, said she’s been hanging out with different groups of friends since 10PM and later told me she didn’t sign off until close to 5 in the morning.
It might be easy to chalk up our giddy excitement to the novelty of the service. But it was a fun, synchronous hangout time on the Internet not quite like anything I’ve ever experienced online. It’s the same thing that makes Turntable.fm, a new music service that lets people play songs to each other in a chatroom, so entertaining. Both services let us do what we’re already doing, most of the time (spending time in front of our computers, and online), and giving us fun, group activities to do while we’re there.
Part of the appeal of Google’s service, I think, is that most of us are already loitering online and are likely already logged into Gmail, making it easy to jump into a room and “hangout.” There’s no awkward preamble of texting to figure out whether or not someone is free to Skype or use FaceTime. You can just start a hangout and see who joins the room or see who in your network is already in a group video chat session and join in.
The other, larger part, is how well the technology works. The service effortlessly switches back and forth between the person who is chatting, cleverly skipping your own camera, so you avoid awkwardly staring into your own face on your laptop screen. In addition, allowing people to watch videos and share GIFs offers enough activity to keep things lively when there’s a lull in conversation. Given that, its not shocking that there are rumors flying today that Google is interested in buying Hulu; it’d be easy to see cozying up for a night and a handful of friends for a 30 Rock marathon or to settle in with a movie.
GigaOm, a technology blog, dove deep into the technology behind the service, which includes cloud-based architecture and a close-knit browser integration, keeping out the stuttery lags that tend to be a buzzkill for other video messaging services.
I’m curious to see what happens as more people gain access to Google+ and whether hangouts will be as fun and frequent, or whether the novelty will fade. The scene is only likely to get more interesting as Facebook may be eager to introduce its own videochatting services, as TechCrunch is reporting.
