Google Meet brings two new features to take on Zoom – Times of India

With work from home conditions firmly in place, there’s no getting away from video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and others. Zoom has become quite a force to reckon with but Google has been bringing new features to Meet in order to get more users on board. The two latest features to arrive on Google Meet were announced by the company in a blog post.
“Starting October 8, we’re launching two highly-requested features in Google Meet to help you connect and engage with people on your video calls: Q&A and polls,” said Google in the blog post.
Elaborating on the two new features, Google said, Q&A in Meet give users an easy way to better engage audiences and help them get their questions answered, both at work and in school. “Educators can use Q&A as a structured way for students to ask questions on class content and get answers from teachers,” said Google. Businesses, on the other hand, can use Q&A to help make meetings more inclusive, giving everyone the opportunity to ask questions. Also, participants can submit and upvote their favourite questions without disrupting the flow of the call. Participants can ask questions and interact with other participants’ questions by upvoting. Moderators can then choose to answer the most highly ranked or most relevant questions on the call. When the meeting ends, hosts will automatically receive an email containing an export of all submitted questions, so they can follow up on unanswered questions, noted Google in the blog post.
Polls, as per Google, are an effective way to gauge the pulse of an audience. “Business users can easily get real-time feedback from their colleagues, teachers can quiz remote students to ensure they’re absorbing the material, and sales teams can make their sales presentations to prospective customers more engaging and interactive,” said Google.
The new features will start rolling out on October 8 and could take maximum of 15 days to reach all users. Do note that the new features are available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers. These will not be available to G Suite Basic, G Suite for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits customers