In it, The Muppets are using Google+ for—what else—an impromptu band session, rocking out to a cover of the Queen/David Bowie collaboration, "Under Pressure," via the power of a Google+ hangout. This isn't the first time that Google has turned to The Muppets to support one of its products. There was a Nov. 7 Muppets Hangout, and the company celebrated the 75th birthday of famed Muppet creator Jim Henson by using The Muppets to form an interactive "Google" logo. According to November stats from Hitwise, Google+ experienced its third-largest week of traffic for the week ending Nov. 12. Take Google's own statistics for they're worth, however, and Google+ has sailed in as the second most-searched-for term in 2011. Is Google+ in or out for 2012? Unless, of course, Google's latest Muppets commercial creates a Google+ surge from, "lovers, dreamers, and you."
Taking advantage of the resurgence of the Muppets, which another generation is blessed to know thanks to a new movie, Google has cast them into a new ad for Google+, and it's the best argument for Hangouts yet.--Google+ features a group video chat feature called Hangouts, the easiest-to-use and highest-quality group video chat service available, to the best of my knowledge. Both Google+ and Hangouts are free. Just use your existing Google account. If you have a Google password for Gmail, Calendar, Docs or any other service, use that password. Besides the fact that it's free, high quality and has no time limits, the big advantage of Hangouts is that 10 people can video-chat together at once. A hangout shows a big video screen, and below that a bunch of small ones showing the rest of the participants.
Most people do hangouts in the same way they used to do one-on-one video chats. They launch a hangout, pay full attention and actively engage with one another. However, a small but growing number of people are doing what I call "ambient hangouts." Instead of short, focused hangouts, they're doing long, open and casual ones. One woman told me she has scheduled holiday hangouts for both Christmas morning and Christmas dinner. She uses Facebook to broadcast the schedule to family and friends. Another friend told me he sent instructions for setting up hangouts on his Christmas cards. Two friends already did "ambient hangouts" for the Thanksgiving holiday. My own ambient holiday My wife's brother and family live in New York.
What's so great about ambient holiday hangouts, Ambient hangouts take connecting via video down a notch in terms of formality. "It's long distance! Ambient hangouts are perfect for the holidays. Why?
Tips for successful ambient hangouts Launch a public hangout, and see what happens. Here's a neat feature of hangouts that most people don't know about: You can log in as a separate participant for every device you have. For example, you can launch a hangout with your desktop, and join that hangout with your laptop, tablet and phone. If you're going to call someone on the phone anyway to wish them a happy holiday, you can just dial them in directly from the hangout. Google+ hangouts support regular phone calls, which are just added to the hangout -- everyone can hear them.
You should also know that anyone in the hangout can invite anyone else. So, for example, as in my example, when I join my brother-in-law's hangout, I can invite my own family to his hangout. Bonus tip: Use Hangouts as your away-from-home security system If you're going to be away from home for the holidays, why not use hangouts as a free home security system? So before you leave home, launch a hangout from your home desktop or laptop PC. If you've got old netbooks or tablets lying around, and want additional cameras watching your home, join the hangout from those devices. Later, if you want to check in on the house, just join the hangout. If you see a burglar, invite the public to join the hangout so you'll have some witnesses.--Google+ hangouts are the great undiscovered feature that everyone can enjoy this holiday season. Unite your family and friends this holiday season using the free and easy hangouts feature of Google+.
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