Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, people have been staying home. This has left many feeling alone and isolated, as they are separated from their friends and possibly even their families. Video chatting has become a lifeline during this time.
The question is, which video calling service is the best? Zoom, Skype and Google Hangouts are three of the most popular. Each platform comes with pros and cons.
Zoom
Zoom has quickly risen to the top spot amongst schools and businesses, along with casual virtual meetups with friends, and it’s plain to see why.
To put it simply, Zoom is easy. You don’t need an account to join a Zoom call, and to join a call all you need to do is click a link or enter a five-digit code. Users can choose to focus on the speaker or to see all members at once with gallery view, and video and audio controls are easy to use. Zoom also has screen-sharing capability. If you’re looking to have some fun during your call, Zoom also offers a virtual background feature, which can make it look like you’re chatting from a beach or jungle getaway.
However, Zoom’s ease is also a major factor to its downside — it’s too easy to join the calls. This has led to “Zoombombing,” which The New York Times describes as harassment through Zoom from unwanted guests. Anyone can join a call at any time, which makes Zoom links shared on social media sites easy targets for internet trolls.
“Originally a service meant for businesses, Zoom was designed to make it easy for company employees, sales representatives and clients to hop on meetings,” The New York Times wrote. “When consumers flocked to the video platform for school and socializing, however, those conveniences also made it easy to hijack video conferences and harass participants in online attacks known as Zoombombing.”
Due to its rise in popularity, Zoom is now working to increase security measures. So far, the biggest measure taken is that members now have to be accepted into a call instead of simply being able to join on their own by clicking a link or entering a code.
Skype
Skype is an old favorite that has stayed near the top, despite the emergence of newer alternatives. It is not as user-friendly as Zoom but remains popular due to its familiarity.
Like Zoom, Skype is free to use and offers features like screen-sharing. Also, Skype allows for large group meetings, and there can be up to 50 people on a call at a time. Skype is a Microsoft program, so it is especially convenient for people who are most comfortable with Microsoft products.
Skype and Zoom are extremely similar, but the biggest difference between the two is that with Skype, only registered users can be on a call, which is both positive and negative. This can be a good thing because the host knows every person in the meeting, but makes this difficult because everyone has to create an account in order to join the meeting.
Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is another video chatting option that offers many of the same capabilities as Zoom and Skype.
It is available on many devices, includes screen-sharing and has a free option which allows just about anyone to join meetings. Google Hangouts does provide Google app integration.
Unlike Zoom and Skype however, it doesn’t have some of the extra features that other platforms provide, such as virtual backgrounds. It seems like the biggest downside to Google Hangouts is that the meeting sizes are significantly smaller. Zoom can hold groups of up to 100, while Hangouts can only host 25 at a time.
Overall, between the three platforms, the biggest differences are group size, accessibility and the presence of extra features. Zoom is currently the preferred platform for schools and businesses because of its ease and its capability to host a large group.
