Google Hangouts has various features that can make it a useful platform for business owners who know how to integrate it properly, and even though it might take a while for newcomers to get the hang of how it works, it’s definitely worth the effort. Google have been quite steady in supporting Hangouts as well, constantly releasing new features and polishing the interface, backend and overall user experience to make it an even more attractive choice for everyone around.
One of the latest additions to the feature package of Hangouts has been the ability for users to start a chat session with businesses directly, as Hangouts are now integrated straight into search results that feature businesses. The idea is simple and obvious – a user should be able to get in touch with a company for any quick inquiries easily, e.g. if they want to ask for the opening hours if they’re not listed, or something along those lines.
Hangouts is actually not the first service to offer this feature, as Path Talk has had a direct messaging system for quite some time now, which also allowed users to chat with local companies easily. However, the implementation was a bit different, as in the case of Path Talk, the chat session was not directly handled by representatives for the actual company, but by people working for Path Talk who then contacted the company in question.
With this change, experts have said, Google should get even more exposure for their Hangouts platform, and should see it becoming even more prominent on the market. It’s a critical time for Hangouts right now too, as it could potentially be overtaken by other services soon, even though Google have been quite active in releasing updates for it.
There have been rumors that Google are actually planning to eventually fully incorporate Hangouts into their search results, giving users complete access to the full range of functionality offered by the platform. Considering that some of Google’s users don’t even know what Hangouts is yet, this could prove very beneficial for the company. On the other hand, the change should definitely be done carefully and smoothly, as there is a pretty big risk of alienating some users if the changes start coming in too quickly.
After all, many of Google’s users enjoy the service for its simplicity, so suddenly adding various Hangouts features to it could definitely make it a less attractive option for the more minimalistic-minded users. They’ve managed to preserve the authentic style of their search engine for a long time now, so hopefully they’ll also know how to handle it in the future, with such changes allegedly being planned.