Google Meet Use Soars With Home-Based Work
While many businesses have ground to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, others have attempted to shift and adapt. For many, this means working from home as much as possible. It will be interesting to see how many workers continue to do this after the disease has run its course, but, for now, it is clear that many of them are changing tactics. That means they need new methods of communication, and Google’s entire suite of products has seen increased use. This is perhaps highlighted most by a soaring number of people using Google Meet.
In the same vein as Skype, Facetime, Zoom and other products, Meet is Google’s video-calling platform. Between just January and the beginning of April, the user base has ballooned by an astounding 25 times. Some of that is due to workers holding meetings, while some of it is due to students using it for school. For example, some schools have banned Zoom and turned to Meet as the way to hold video classes. Either way, the amount of people using the service has peaked into never-before-seen numbers.
Free Upgrades
As a way of responding to the uptick in users and helping people during the pandemic, Google has offered some of its more exclusive features for free. For instance, only those who use G Suite enterprise could add as many as 250 people to a single call. They could also livestream a session to as many as 10,000 people, based out of just one domain. Google has waived the charges until September 30, increasing functionality for all people who use Meet. After that point, charges should go back to normal, as Google appears to believe that the worst of the pandemic will have passed by the fall.
It is fair to point out that Google upgrading the service for free is also a way of advertising it. As noted, Zoom and other such services have also seen a huge surge in users lately. If Google can make theirs the most attractive option, pulling people in, how many of them will keep using it instead of the competition in the future? As noted above, some workers may push for more at-home options even after the pandemic, if this changes the way that they think about their jobs, and services like Meet could see increased use going forward. That could lead companies to keep using it even when the fees return in the fall.
A New World of Online Use
Google Meet is a great example of how work is changing in 2020 and how people are using the internet to make up for communication impossibilities due to social distancing and, in some cases, even more extreme measures. The internet has clearly been changing how people work and communicate since its creation, but this appears to have accelerated the process. It will be very interesting to see the long-term impact that change has. Will more and more workers rely on computers, smartphones and other such devices to connect? Will they spend more time using online services and seeing them as a focal point of their jobs? How will this change advertising opportunities? How will it impact social media business use and customer service? There are many questions to ask as we navigate this new world.
As you examine these questions, let the professionals at Content Customs guide you to the solutions you seek. Business success in 2020 and beyond means adapting to the rapid changes, and we can ensure that you do.
