Hangouts on Air for all Google+ members

Late last year Google announced Hangouts on Air for a limited number of Google + users, allowing them to broadcast live video to friends and fans worldwide. This week it was announced that this feature is now available to all Google+ users around the globe.  You’re able to broadcast publicly via Google+, YouTube or directly from your website. Hangouts on Air lets you see the number of live viewers you have as well as the ability to record and share the video once the broadcast is over!

The features are similar to the many streaming live video websites out there such as Justin.tv or Ustream.tv. The major difference is that this service is socialised with the ability to share broadcasts within your Google+ Circles, rather than being anonymous. Furthermore, Hangouts on Air includes options for screensharing, a sketchpad, and collaboration on Google Docs –  similar to online collaboration websites such as GoToMeeting. On the development side, the Google+ API platform allows those of the coding persuasion to create their own applications. The best part? It’s all free! 🙂

Google is rolling out this feature to all Google+ users within the next few weeks. In the meantime, why not see what’s streaming right now?