Hangouts is a new platform from Google Plus that lets you communicate “face to face” with 10 people at once. Unlike other video conferencing service you don’t have to pay for it, you can do it for free! That sounds like a total blast. The video service is fast, effective, easy to use and free for anyone who has an account on G+.

Hangouts is dynamic and better than various other services, as it allow you to easily add multiple people to a call. Besides, it offer the ability to share your computer screen, document from Google Docs or Slideshare, watch a YouTube video with all participants in the room and much more.

How to Get Started :

• Login to your Google plus account where you will see the activity of your friends. On the right sidebar, you will see the Hangouts section, click on the “Start a hangout” button.

• As soon as you hit the button a pop up window will appear. In this window, on the left side you will see two boxes, click on the upper box to choose the specific circle you want to hang out with. This circle could be of your friends, family, colleague etc.

• If you want extend your circle just click on “Add more people”.  But if you want to remove any of contact simply click on “x”.

• On the right hand side you will see the image of your contact from there you can manually add the people by clicking on the image of your contact whom you want to invite. Once added, name this hangout and click on the “Hang Out” button.

• Now you will be redirected to a new window, where you are ready to talk face to face with your contacts.

I have not connected the camera that’s why you are unable to see the video.

• If you want to invite the more people then navigate toward left sidebar and click on the “invite” people button.

• To start chatting with everyone in hang out, press on the “Chat” button on the left sidebar.

 

Type your message in the box and press enter key to send the text message. This message will be visible to everyone in the group.

• If you want to mute anyone in the conversation click on the “Mute” button below the image.

• To add more apps click on the “view more apps” button. When you put the cursor on it will open a small window, now click on “add apps” button.

• A pop up window will appear on the screen; here you will see many apps, like YouTube, Slide share, Screen share and more.  For example, if you want to add YouTube put the cursor on it and click on the green “add to this hangout” button.  Within few moment it will added to your hangouts.

• To watch YouTube video with your friends just click on the “YouTube” button in left sidebar.  Now you need to select the song for playing. To do that simply click on “add videos to playlist” button and search for the video song you want to play. When got, click on the green” +” button to watch the video.

• Screen Sharing: To share screen with other, click on the “Share Screen” button present on the left sidebar. If you have multiple windows open then you will asked to choose one among them. Select the window and click on “share selected window” button.

• Similarly, you can add as many apps as you like within your hangouts. For example: Slide share, Google drive, Google effects and more.

Hangouts with extras:

In addition to the aforementioned improvements in videoconferencing, Google lets you share documents in Google Docs with the audience, using Sketchpad to draw anything you want to share, and even add photos to be displayed. Thus, becomes much more interactive (and integrated) and everything done by this amazing feature of Google “Hangouts with extras“.

Key Features:

• Screensharing: to share your holiday photos or whatever you have on screen
• Sketchpad: for drawing or just doodling
• Google Docs: to write or share a document with others
• Named Hangouts: to talk publicly about a topic with other Live users Google+

Call by Phone:

Video calls are available on the social network from the beginning, but from now can also be made from the mobile phone, allowing to join or make a video call from phone to computer, or any possible combination. At the moment this service is available for the U.S. and Canada, but hopefully soon will reach the other countries to give a taste to hangouts with dial.

To activate this feature, you need to go to Hangouts with extras, click the “invite” button, select “+Phone” and enter the phone number. For now you can only invite a single person for calling. If you add another person to call, it will automatically replace the previous participant by this new phone number.

Hangouts Mobile App:

The Hangouts feature is easier to use within the application for the iPhone through Google Plus. The application displays the video of Who’s Talking (and the image of you), while allowing you to toggle to see other users.

Because the application only shows one video at a time, I discovered that provides better video quality than the desktop version. I’ve actually gotten to the point of using the application to Hangouts even when I’m at my desk.

It is also possible to use the Hangouts feature in data networks, not only over WiFi. When I was late for Hangout meeting, I used the application in the car to listen while driving. (Of course, do not watch the screen while driving – but the video is available if I had a driver). Google Plus Hangouts offers even more functionality in its application for the iPad and Android.

To download the Hangouts App on your iPhone | Android devices simply follow the link.

Hangouts on Air:

This is one of the most powerful tool of Google Plus, which is now available for all users. This service makes Google+ practically a custom TV channel that can reach to an unlimited number of viewers worldwide.

This application gives us a new opportunity to interact with our circles of contacts via live broadcasts. The biggest feature is that the number of viewers can be unlimited.  During transmission, may have a look at to see how many people are watching the broadcast. At the end of the transmission, the video is automatically loaded to YouTube and will be appended to your Google+ account.

The “Hangouts On Air” is the way in which certain brands and developers of Google groups could transmit “live” an event, program or session. These Hangouts on Air could be embedded on any website, allowing thousands of people to appreciate lectures, concerts and workshops, without even having to open Google+.

Conclusion :

In this tutorial i have tried to cover all the important aspect of Google Hangouts. I hope you will like it. If you have any question regarding this dynamic video conferencing tool then don’t hesitate to ask me.