Society Saturday - Using Google Hangouts & Embracing Social Media

Using Google to embrace interaction between a group of people is not only a great idea, but it is free. There are two kinds of Google Hangouts

1. A private conversation or meeting between no more than 10 people 
2. A Hangout that will be recorded and archived at YouTube

How can I or my Society do this?

1. Create a Google Community for yourself or your Society. I have the Book of Me, Written by You community, some other familiar on-line faces with communities are +DearMYRTLE +Society for One-Place Studies, +Tessa Keough who hosts the Legacy Virtual Users Group, Guild of One-Name Studies and +Jill Ball who hosts the GeniAUS community.
2. Once you have a community you can host hangouts that are scheduled, invite people and comments on the hangouts and much more.

Once the community is created that will be the home of your on-line hangouts and is the gateway to interaction 

1. Members of the community will see the scheduled hangout in their Google stream. By members responding Yes or Maybe the event will be added to their Google calendar in their time zone
2. The stream will allow comments that can be shared or addressed in the hangout
3. The hangout typically has one or two hosts, and then 8 spaces are available for interaction - known as JOINers. Should you not wish to participate but simply want to watch whilst the hangout is in progress you can and are a VIEWer. 
4. If the event is missed completely because you were at work , walking the dog, taking a nap or you simply didn't know then you can view via the archived version which is located on the relevant YouTube Channel.

Here is a few Q & A that I created for the Book of Me Community and the Society of One-Place Studies community.

There is even a good video created by +DearMYRTLE and Cousin Russ(+Russ Worthington) which explains how to schedule and create a hangout.



The on-line world has never been so easy. There are friendly faces across the globe who will be more than happy to answer questions and assist.

So go ahead, embrace the free facilities that Google offers!