Google Announces Helpouts, an Educational Video Chat Service
Google quietly launched a website detailing its new Helpouts feature, a person-to-person service through Google+ Hangouts that will connect people with experts for real-time tutorials and advice in several different fields. The service isn’t available yet, but the homepage, which just recently went live, says Helpouts is “a new way to connect people who need help with people who can give help, over live video, anytime, anywhere.”
The feature is invite-only right now, but people interested in sharing their knowledge on a subject can leave their names and email addresses to be included in the beta test. Once the service launches, professionals can offer their time free of charge or set a price per minute to chat with users.
Google says it is “currently inviting people with expertise across a number of topics to be able to offer Helpouts when we go live—and to make money sharing their skills and knowledge with the world.”
And Google is serious about making sure those people are experts on their subjects. Everyone who wants to create a Helpouts offer has to list their qualifications, including certificates, training, and experience. For those looking to provide help or advice relating to health care, Google is working with HireRight, a background-screening services provider, to double-check their credentials.
In addition to the Health & Counseling field, other topics currently listed for Helpouts are Home & Garden, Computers & Electronics, Nutrition & Fitness, Fashion & Beauty, Art & Music, Cooking, and Education.
Once contributors enter a description of their area of expertise, qualifications, and pricing, Google lists them under the appropriate topic and matches them with people in need of their assistance. Experts can toggle their availability to “on” and offer help whenever it’s convenient, or they can create a schedule of when they’re available so people can book tutorials ahead of time.
To participate in a Helpouts session, a Google+ account is required. If a fee is being charged for a session, both the “teacher” and the “student” will need Google Wallet, which is handling all the transactions. Google gets a 20 percent cut of the payment. Support is available for desktop browsers, Android, and iOS. And if you’re not totally happy with the experience, Helpouts offers a 100 percent money-back guarantee.
Google is by no means the first to come up with the idea of monetizing services delivered via webcam. It’s likely Helpouts will be stepping on the toes of startups such as Live Ninja and Powhow (the latter of which was actually founded by a former Google staffer). And with the prevalence of Google+ and the resources of its Hangouts feature, Helpouts should have some built-in popularity as soon as it launches—whenever that may be.
Would you participate in a Google Helpouts session, either as an expert or as a customer? Do you think this is a good addition to Google’s arsenal of services?
