As more and more companies are urging their employees to keep working from home, Google is looking to capitalise on the same as it has made its video call service Google Meet free for all till June 2021.
Earlier the offer was set to expire on September 30, 2020. Then another deadline was issued till March-end 2021.
In light of a deadly surge in active Covid cases worldwide, Google has acknowledged the power of video conferencing platforms such as Zoom which enjoys the most popularity currently.
So presently users can avail of the free service and enjoy the absence of a time limit since anyone can conduct a meeting for 24 hours, termed “unlimited” by Google.
After June 30, users will be restricted to a maximum time limit of 60 mins per meeting.
The Benefits
Users can host teleconferences and add up to 100 participants in a meeting.
In order to avail the benefit of adding 250 participants, one would have to subscribe to Google’s Workspace paid plans.
Another significant benefit is that in order to join a meeting, if the person does not have a Google account, they can simply join through a browser via a link shared by the host.
This takes care of the hassle of setting up an account in the same platform the meeting is being held in.
Another unique feature of Google Meet is that if one is having network connectivity issues or is on the go and cannot access the internet, they can still join the meeting with a specially created dial-in phone number.
There are also dedicated tutorials and resources for teachers and students on how to utilise the platform for enhancing the quality of lessons taught.
Such features include the ability to mute all students and safety features which prevent unauthorised or unknown people from crashing the session.
Virtual Audio-Only Meetings: A Newly Emerging Alternative
Major internet companies such as Discord, LinkedIn, Spotify, Facebook and Twitter have also been developing features that provide users the ability to host social audio-only chat rooms which anyone can join and listen in.
Twitter calls this feature “Spaces”, whereas Instagram has also been developing something similar as evidenced by leaked screenshots.
However there has been no web browser launch of such services yet, although Twitter has been confirmed to be working on the same.
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