A helping hand from Google
The world is full of experts, and now the internet lets you talk to them via video chat. What question do you want to ask, and how much are you prepared to pay for it?
The humble videochat has come a long way. Just a few years ago, live two-way video was very expensive, and hard to do well.
Now faster, better broadband is more pervasive, more reliable, and every new gadget you buy has a camera that points to its owner’s face.
Google, like many of its rivals, wants to make the most of this. It started out with an online chat system called Hangouts, which connects two or more people.
Now it’s extending that idea with a new idea, Helpouts (helpouts.google.com), using the same technology, but for a slightly different purpose. Think of a Helpout like a tutorial. It can be on any subject under the sun. It might last five minutes or two hours. It might cost nothing, or a hundred dollars.
Anyone can sign up to be a tutor. If you think you know enough about a subject to be able to teach it live over the web, you can be one too. You can charge what you like, as well. Google’s Helpouts marketplace will be your shop, and the market will decide whether or not you’re charging a fair price.
What does Google get out of it? Well, it takes a cut of the tutors’ fees, of course. And it also learns a little bit more about people – if you sign up for a Helpout about playing the guitar, for example, there’s a good chance you’ll be interested in adverts from music shops and guitar accessories suppliers.
Not every Google product is a success, so for the time being Helpouts should be treated as an experiment. It might go nowhere – or it might completely change the way private tutors run their businesses.
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