Over the past decade, Google has launched and evolved multiple communication tools to meet the changing needs of consumer and business users alike.
I‘ll provide an insightful insider‘s guide to help demystify Google‘s three primary offerings in this space – Chat, Hangouts and Meet. Whether you wish to catch up with friends over video calls or host client webinars, this comparison should help pick the right fit.
Let me walk you through the history and core capabilities of each tool, highlight their strengths and weaknesses, and offer my perspective on where things might be headed given Google‘s ambient computing ambitions.
The Evolution of Google‘s Communication Tools
It all started in 2005 with Google Talk, allowing users to chat within Gmail. In 2013, this transformed into Google Hangouts – a unified platform for messaging, video calls and photo sharing.
Hangouts was widely popular for many years until 2018 when Google announced Hangouts Chat – a Messaging app tailored for enterprise team collaboration with tight integrations to its G Suite productivity tools.
In 2020, Hangouts Chat was rebranded to Google Chat while the original Hangouts app was put into maintenance mode and eventually discontinued in 2022.
For large video conferences, Google had a separate Hangouts Meet offering focused on businesses. This has now been rebranded to just Google Meet and opened up for free access to all Google users.
So in essence, Hangouts catered to personal communications while Chat and Meet evolved to focus more on collaboration and conferencing for organizations.
Comparing Core Features
Here‘s an overview of some key capabilities across Chat, Hangouts and Meet:
| Google Chat | Google Hangouts (discontinued) | Google Meet | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-on-1 Messaging | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Group Video Calls | ❌ Requires Meet |
Up to 150 participants | Up to 250 participants |
Some things I want you to note from this table:
- Only Meet supports larger video meetings while Hangouts catered more to smaller groups
- Chat is mostly for text-based messaging and team coordination rather than video calling
- Native integrations with other Google services gives Chat and Meet a leg up in the productivity arena
In my experience, Hangouts certainly wins when it comes to casual video catchups with friends. But Chat and Meet are miles ahead in facilitating collaborative professional interactions.
Diving Deeper: User Interface and Accessibility
When it comes to the overall user experience, here‘s how they stack up:
Google Chat – Clean and minimalist interface showing 1-on-1 and group conversations. Tightly integrated across Gmail, Drive and Calendar. Limited to Google Workspace subscribers only.
Google Hangouts (discontinued) – Expressive interface with emojis and image sharing capabilities. Loose integration with Gmail and Photos. Previously available for free to all Google users.
Google Meet – Sophisticated meeting capabilities like screen sharing and real-time captions. Calendar integration makes joining meetings effortless. Now free for all Google account holders.
So Chat and Meet definitely cater more to structured team conversations, while Hangouts supported casual social interactions.
Accessibility is no longer an issue for Meet after Google opened it up for free. Chat still requires a Google Workspace subscription, so it isn‘t readily accessible for personal use cases.
Developments on the Horizon
Google continues investing heavily in evolving Chat and Meet capabilities even further:
Google Chat – Threaded messaging, improved search, better protections against spam/phishing attacks and integrations for automating common tasks have been recently launched.
Google Meet – Automatic lighting adjustment and multi-pinning videos to highlight active speakers are amongst the latest enhancements. More immersive hybrid meeting experiences are on the roadmap.
Given Google Cloud‘s announcements at Next ‘22 around ambient computing, I believe both these tools will leverage AI to provide smarter, automated and proactive communication experiences in the future.
So while Hangouts catered well to personal use cases earlier, Google is now focused exclusively on elevating Chat and Meet as enterprise-grade collaboration and conferencing solutions.
Bottom Line – Making the Optimal Choice
Hope this detailed yet friendly insider‘s guide helped demystify the trio of Google‘s communication offerings – Chat, Meet and the now discontinued Hangouts.
Based on their target user base, primary features, accessibility, user experience and roadmap – Chat and Meet emerge as the strategic bets for Google‘s future, catering specifically to collaborative and conferencing needs of businesses.
If you have any other questions as you evaluate options for your teams, feel free to reach out! I‘m always glad to help decipher Google‘s vast array of productivity tools.
