Google Workspace announced new features in Meet and Spaces that seek to enhance collaboration in the remote or hybrid work. These are tools that aim to connect workers who are in different countries, offices, homes or wherever so that the distance becomes almost imperceptible.
In this context, the company announced news for live broadcasts. In the coming months, attendees of the live broadcasts will be able to participate in questions and answers, as well as surveys. These are features that are already available to Meet video call users, where meetings of up to 500 active participants can already be organized with the ability to live stream to audiences of up to 100,000 trusted Google Workspace domains.
On the other hand, you can stream Meet directly on YouTube, directly from the activities tab. This will make it possible to reach an ever wider audience. Integration with YouTube means that a Google account can be used for authentication, which simplifies the live streaming process.
As is known, remote work has increased the surface of potential attacks, making care of cybersecurity a priority for many companies. In view of this situation, security was strengthened in Google Meet.
“Starting in May, we'll be implementing optional client-side encryption (currently in beta) to help keep your communications more confidential, secure, and private. This feature gives customers direct control of the encryption keys and the identity provider used to access those keys. Throughout 2022, we will be introducing optional end-to-end encryption for all meetings,” the company said in a statement.
Another novelty is that from next month the reactions to the Meet meetings arrive. Thus, it will be possible to share emojis while attending virtual meetings and presentations. Another layer of “reality” for an increasingly virtual work context.
Users will be able to initiate video calls from a Docs, Sheets, and Slides file to present this content to all meeting attendees. This is an option that facilitates real-time collaboration while the talk is being held. This tool will be available in the coming weeks.
The always well-rated picture-in-picture also came to Google Meet. This feature, which will be available starting next month, will allow users to see in a floating window a tile of up to four meeting participants while using other applications or performing other tasks. This will be possible from the Chrome browser and points to the multitasking that some users appreciate so much.
On the other hand, new ways to connect with Plugin Mode were announced. Throughout the year, people in in-person conference rooms will be able to add their personal mosaic to video calls from Add-on Mode using their computer camera, making it easier for other attendees to see their expressions and gestures.
Spaces, the solution for asynchronous collaboration between teams within Gmail, also adds new features:
Online Topics Thread. With this option, members of a space will be able to respond to specific comments and create parallel conversations, while keeping the dialogue organized and contextual. Each teammate can easily navigate a space and catch up on the topics that matter to them, at a time that best suits their schedule. The phased deployment of this feature began in September 2021.
Search improvements. The new search function within Google Chat and Spaces will be optimized to display the most relevant files and conversations, as well as filter chips to search results within the chat. This option will be available later this year.
For a few days now, users have been able to invite others to join the Spaces. Later this year, users will be allowed to search and join spaces in the organization they belong to.
In turn, this year, the limits on the number of members of a space will be increased from 8,000 to 25,000. This will improve knowledge sharing and collaboration in larger organizations.
In Spaces there are also improvements in safety. In this regard, tools will be implemented for content moderation, management of Spaces and the establishment of the right rules for healthy communication. The phased deployment of these functions began in September 2021.
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