After classic Hangouts is retired for G Suite customers later this year, consumer accounts will also be transitioned to Hangouts Chat and Meet. One casualty of this shutdown is Hangouts On Air, which is “going away later this year.”
Over the past several months we’ve been seeing Google moving various services away from Google+. The app no longer comes pre-loaded on Android devices, you no longer need a Google+ account for YouTube or Google Play, and now the company is cutting another chunk out of the social network, Hangouts on Air.
Google announced a new feature for Hangouts on Air today called Applause, which lets viewers give a thumbs up or down to the content they’re viewing during a live video broadcast. In addition to sharing cheers and jeers, this new features lets the search giant generate a real-time chart documenting the audience’s feedback as it happens. Despite looking like a game of Guitar Hero, the colorful graph gives broadcasters an easy way to monitor viewers’ feelings about their efforts. Think of it as a modern-day version of The Gong Show.
Today, Google announced the availability of its new Showcase app for Hangouts on Air that lets hosts promote content related to their conversation like websites, YouTube videos, Google+ profiles and content from Google Play via an onscreen panel displayed on the right-hand side of the video feed. For example, the cast of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes recently held a Hangout and used the Showcase app to share links to trailers and movie tickets.
As Hangouts on Air grows in popularity, Google is working to standardize it as a professional tool. With that in mind, the company is introducing “Control Room,” providing Hangout users the opportunity to “adjust the audio and video levels of your participants so viewers can simply enjoy the show.”
