Google is officially trying to beat the powerhouses in mobile messaging. The company has announced that they will be implementing artificial intelligence in their messaging service. This AI technology could help Google Hangouts beat the two powerhouses in mobile messaging, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
WHAT GOOGLE HANGOUTS IS
Google Hangouts is a messaging platform that includes video chatting, instant messaging, text messaging, and voice communications. This service can be accessed through Google’s Gmail service. However, it can also be accessed through Android and iOS mobile apps. This allows two or more users to partake in communication. However, the lack of support for multi-chat clients has been heavily criticized in the past.
GOOGLE HANGOUTS TO IMPLEMENT CHATBOT TECHNOLOGY
Google has been working with artificial intelligence more and more so this news is no surprise. Chatbots can be thought of as being a more intelligent search engine. A user could type a query and then this program would search through thousands of sources to try and get you your answer. Also with this technology, users would not have to worry about opening another program.
FACEBOOK MESSENGER AND WHATSAPP ARE SIMILAR
Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are very similar services to Google Hangouts. They are both instant messaging services as well. Facebook Messenger offers both a mobile and desktop version of their service. Users can talk with each other via text and voice communication. WhatsApp is very similar, but it is primarily for smartphones. The services it offers are identical. WhatsApp was actually acquired by Facebook in 2014.
RIGHT NOW, FACEBOOK MESSENGER AND WHATSAPP ARE KILLING GOOGLE HANGOUTS
As of August 2015, Google Hangouts is not even in the same ballpark as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Statistics were provided back in August about the top mobile messenger apps. WhatsApp actually led all services with 800 million monthly users. Facebook Messenger was not far behind, though. They had 700 million active monthly users as of August 2015. This is not even the surprising part, though. The statistics provided showed the top 10 services per monthly users. Google Hangouts was not even in the top 10. They are even behind KakaoTalk with 48 million monthly users.
THIS CHATBOT TECHNOLOGY IS WHAT GOOGLE HANGOUTS NEEDED
As seen by the statistics, Google Hangouts desperately needs a selling point. As of right now, there is no reason to switch to Google Hangouts. However, if this artificial intelligence technology turns out to be as good as it sounds then there might be a reason to switch. Google needed to massively spice up Google Hangouts. The good news is after this they will be ahead of the other messaging services. This does not necessarily mean by downloads, but by the product itself.
NO OFFICIAL DATE ON WHEN THIS WILL COME TO GOOGLE HANGOUTS
Google has not officially stated when they plan to release this new artificial intelligence technology for their messaging service. They have also not said anything on what this service will be called. The only thing we know for sure is that they are making this service. We will have to remain patient until the company officially announces when this service will be available to the public. So for now, we will just have to wait and continue to not have a reason to use Google Hangouts!
Read: Yahoo Expects to Beat Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Skype
