The features, designed to make meetings more interactive and fun, come a month after Google decided to merge its two video platforms, following its decision to finally phase out Google Duo. Here’s what to expect. The new suite of live-sharing features — which still includes polls and Q&A — will allow meetings to be more engaging, by adding fun ways for participants to interact with videos, songs and games. The new features will be available to all Google Meet users as soon as they update the app, and can be accessed by clicking on the three-dot menu bar, in the top right corner of the app, under the new Activities tab. Once there, users will be able to share an activity of their choice by clicking the activity icon and opting in to join a group session. Some shared activities, like Spotify, will only be available to Spotify Premium customers, but most games and activities will be available to everyone in your team. Google’s ability to schedule recurring meetings, apply real-time closed captions, facilitate in-meeting chat, and integrate with all the Google Suite apps, such as Google Calendar, Gmail and Google Assistant, make Google Meet a solid, professional web conferencing tool for US businesses. Of course, it’s not the only one in the game. Zoho and GoToMeeting, while lesser-known, offer high quality call packages for businesses at affordable monthly rates, and even Zoom is a popular option for businesses looking for a cost-effective solution for video calling. You can see how these two front-runners compare in our Google Meet vs Zoom review.
