In times of regular remote meetings, long-distance projects, virtual conferences, created even to share some doubts that we would have solved asking the colleague next to us at the office, new tools arise, and that is excellent news. Besides, due to Covid-19, this year, digital tools made a huge step ahead.
For what concerns online meetings and alternative video call platforms from Skype, Zoom and many others, here’s Facebook with Messenger Room. But there is more! The news comes from Google too, which created its meeting platform called Google Meet.
Let’s have a look at them, one by one.
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Facebook Messenger Room: Zuckerberg’s meeting rooms
Even by its name, the word “room” makes it clear: creating “rooms” where people can talk, quietly and connecting with what is still the king of social media (excluding younger audiences): Facebook indeed. Facebook Messenger Room is still new among many countries, and some of them are still testing it.
In a few words, it’s a feature given to anyone with a Facebook profile, that allows them to video call up to 50 people. A provocation that indeed challenges Zoom, the video call platform, although it comes with its differences. In the free version of Zoom, you are allowed to video call up to 100 people for up to 40 minutes.
Let’s go back to Messenger Rooms. How does it work? You can invite in your room the people that are on Facebook and make virtual meetings with no time limit. Attendees can come in and out quickly, you can even share your screen but, for now, with max ten people. And for an online meeting, this is good already. It will be even possible to create a public room and have a link to share with those who didn’t register on Facebook.
They will be able to register from both desktop and mobile. Another difference with Zoom is that, even if the host leaves the room, participants can still stay. This feature can be particularly useful for overtime remote meetings, allowing only those that are always interested in staying, based on the subjects they are discussing.
WhatsApp: video call for up to 8 people
Facebook video call news don’t end here. There is one even for WhatsApp which, since lockdown, grew exponentially. It’s now possible to video call with up to 8 people, instead of 4 like years ago.
Free Google Meet, with limitations
Even Google has news, and it’s about Google Meet, which is now commonly used for online meetings, conferences etc.
Before, this tool was free only for those subscribed to Google Suite. They now announced that the platform would be open to anyone with a Google account. But that won’t include all its features, unfortunately.
Free online meetings will be up to 100 people for max 60 minutes since the 30th of September 2020. Therefore, this tool was unlimited until a few days ago! We hope you didn’t miss it.
However, reading on Google’s blog, for businesses that are not part of G Suite, there is a new platform for them, called G Suite Essentials. Google says “It’s an ideal solution for teams that need advanced features of Meet, like internal phone numbers, a higher number of meeting participants, video recordings and moderation controls. G Suite Essentials includes Google Drive – for easy and safe access to all shared data – and Docs, Sheets and Presentations – for real-time collaborations and content creation”.
These are the latest news, however, until this pandemic isn’t gone, we expect to see many new updates, so stay tuned.
What is your favourite platform for your online meetings? Do you find them better/worst/different than face-to-face meetings? Let us know in the comments below. Our community may be able to suggest a few additional tips for you 🙂
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About Rox Event Staff, Event Staffing Agency in London
Rox Event Staff is the only event staffing agency in London that helps you take the headache out of staffing and event marketing in one place.
We operate nationwide across the UK with over 2,000 dynamic COVID-19 trained events staff on our growing roster. We have dedicated account management, event marketers, staff’s right-to-work checks, training and skills tests on all workers, taking care of payroll too.
HIRING A PROFESSIONAL EVENT STAFFING AGENCY LEAVES YOU FREE TO FOCUS ON YOUR BUSINESS!
Get in touch to let us know your requirements. We will let you know how we can make that happen.
