Google Meet is a video conferencing tool that allows users to host and attend virtual meetings. It was launched in April 2020 as part of Google’s Workspace suite of productivity tools. With the ongoing pandemic, virtual meetings have become the norm, whether for work or personal communication, and Google Meet has emerged as one of the most popular video conferencing platforms.

How does it work?

To use Google Meet, you need a Google account. If you already use Google’s other services like Gmail or Google Drive, you can easily access Google Meet from these platforms. You can join a meeting by clicking on the link provided or use the meeting code to enter a virtual conference room.

Creating a meeting

To create a meeting, you need to have a Google Workspace account or a personal Gmail account. You can create a meeting directly from Google Meet or through the Google Calendar app.

When creating a meeting, select the date and time, and generate a unique link, which you can share with the participants. You can also enable specific settings like screen sharing, mute participants, and allow or disallow recording. Participants can join the meeting either by clicking the link or entering the meeting code.

Features

Google Meet offers several features that make virtual communication more interactive and seamless. Some of the essential features are:

– Screen sharing: This feature allows participants to share their screens to present documents, slides or demonstrate other content.

– Recording: Meeting hosts can choose to record the session and save it on their Google Drive for future reference.

– Chat: Participants can chat privately during the meeting or send messages to everyone in the group.

– Hand raising: Participants can use the hand-raising feature to indicate that they need to speak or have a question.

– Live captions: This feature enables real-time captioning of the meeting, providing accessibility and support to the hearing-impaired.

Security

Google Meet takes security and privacy seriously. To ensure the safety of users, Google uses encryption to protect all data transmitted during the meeting. Users can also choose a waiting room feature to approve or deny entry to the meeting. Hosts can also lock the room once all participants have joined. The platform also provides end-to-end encryption for one-on-one calls.