EverSpark Interactive Comments on Google's Redesign of Gchat
(PRWEB) June 03, 2014 -- The interface of Google’s Gchat abruptly changed last Tuesday, losing its old look to match that of other Google services. Jason Hennessey of internet marketing company EverSpark Interactive says the change is part of a focused strategy by Google—one which will ultimately change the way we think of online chat.
The seemingly superficial changes made the Gchat interface look more like Google Hangouts, Google’s voice/video chat program, according to Mashable (retrieved 05.19.2014). That includes adding a circular profile picture of each contact next to their name.
“On one level, this is just a normal step to unify corporate branding,” said Hennessey, EverSpark’s co-founder. “Google routinely creates new services as experiments, and if they last long enough they need to be brought into the fold.”
But Hennessey says there’s a deeper strategy at play as well.
“Making the text chat program look the same as the video chat program hints at how Google views these two services,” he said. “To most people they’re two different things. We even use different programs to do them. But Google wants us to think of text and video as two levels of the same app.”
Hangouts is already deeply embedded in Google Plus, Google’s social network. By pushing all these services together, Hennessey says they change the way we think of online person-to-person communication.
“The point is that social, video, and just sending someone a message are all basically the same thing. Google is saying, don’t have 10 different services and apps. Just have one and choose the right method for each occasion.”
According to Mashable, recent leaks of an alleged next-generation Gmail interface seem to corroborate Hennessey’s intuition, showing Hangouts fully integrated into email as well.
“It’s a minor change in appearance, but a big change in how we think about communicating.”
About EverSpark:
EverSpark Interactive is an all-in-one SEO, internet marketing and digital media firm that specializes in gripping, keyword-optimized content. From sales pages to company blogs, PR blurbs to high-quality videos and social media posts, EverSpark's content always gets attention—from both search engines and live customers. The company can be reached at (770) 481-1766 or http://www.eversparkinteractive.com.
Denae Olberding, EverSpark Interactive, http://www.eversparkinteractive.com, +1 (770) 481-1769, [email protected]
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