Google ‘Helpouts’ are a Hangout-based tutoring and learning ecosystem

Seth Weintraub | Aug 21 2013 - 1:02 am PT

Google now has a landing page of a closed beta of a novel new system of monetizing tutoring over Google+’s Hangouts conveniently called Helpouts. The service was first reported a month ago. The idea is pretty simple. If you have a skill area that you think other people can benefit from, you sign up as an expert. Then on the other end, people who need tutoring in that area find an expert in that area that is online for the right price. Google takes care of the transactions. IT will be

I know people who do their counseling and tutoring over Skype or iChat already, so there is certainly a need in this area.

But the devil will be in the details. Reputation building and scoring will be important as well as keeping it clean from porn (or segregated if that’s what Google wants). Right now Google is inviting people who might be interested. I’m keeping an eye on this one – I hope it makes it through Google Purgatory.