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Google Relying On People Power For 'Helpouts'
Nerval's Lobster writes "While Google built its highly profitable search business atop a complex mix of algorithms and machine learning, its latest initiative actually depends on people power: Helpouts, which allows users (for a fee) to video-chat with experts in particular fields. Google has rolled out the service with a few brands in place, such as One Medical and Weight Watchers, and promises that it will expand its portfolio of helpful brands and individuals over the next several months. Existing categories include Cooking, Art & Music, Computers & Electronics, Education & Careers, Fashion & Beauty, Fitness & Nutrition, Health, and Home & Garden. Some Helpouts charge nothing for their time; for example, the 'Cooking' section of the Website already features a handful of chefs willing to talk users through baking, broiling, slicing and dicing for free. A few vendors in the Computers & Electronics section, by contrast, charge $2 per minute or even $200 per Hangout session for advice on WordPress setup, Website design, and more. So why is Google doing this? There are plenty of Websites that already dispense advice, although most rely on the written word—Quora, for example, lets its users pose text-based questions and receive answers. There's also rising interest in Massive Open Online Courses, also known as MOOCs, in which thousands of people can sign online to learn about something new. In theory, Helpouts (if it's built out enough) could make Google a player in those markets, as well as specialized verticals such as language learning — and earn some healthy revenue in the process."
One year.
> Helpouts, where, for a fee, video chat with a live person who will help you solve your dilemma.
As usual, porn led the way.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I read it as Hell pouts
An early attempt at employing people displaced by automation and other personnel reduction consequences.
No kidding. How long before 99.9% of helpouts are for help masturbating?
So, this sounds like a video chat version of Mahalo or, God help us, Yahoo! Answers.
I'll laugh is Amazon slaps a lawsuit on them for some mechanical turk similarity.
Google Answers, which was closed seven years ago after four years of operation, is similar to this only with video.
Compared to Answers, Helpouts is far more expensive to the consumer, the providers are not certified for quality, and both consumer and provider need to be available for a live video chat. I give it four years.
Meanwhile, I'll use the much better advice I can get on YouTube for free, on my time, and in my underwear.
I often provide helpouts to people who dont know much about computer programming in exchange for little green slices of paper I collect. sometimes I trade this paper with other people so they can give me things like gas and food, and other helpouts.
Good people go to bed earlier.
With Google building huge ships for (maybe) unknown purposes, the title sounds too much like the Matrix.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
I believe people are already working on that.
A couple of points you are missing
- You don't need to be available for a live chat. You can book an appointment in advance, and it's all integrated with G+ and Google Calendar.
- Some things YouTube videos can help with. Some things, it can't. Try learning the guitar through only YouTube, you will quickly find that without that feedback from the instructor, you won't get very far. Helpouts will work great for the kinds of things people want live instruction for. Currently, if you want live instruction on Yoga or playing the flute, you need to find a local teacher and pay them. Now you can source this kind of live instruction online.
Existing categories include Cooking, Art & Music, Computers & Electronics, Education & Careers, Fashion & Beauty, Fitness & Nutrition, Health, and Home & Garden.
I can see it now...7 out of every 10 Computers & Electronics 'experts' will require remote access to your computer to help 'troubleshoot' the problem.
"Hello, I'm calling from Microsoft, it appears that you have a virus on your computer..."
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
creates a divide by zero error in google's datacenter
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
I can't wait to sign up and offer my services.
OK, so you pay someone $30 for help and they give you a solution that kind of works, but not really. How much hassle do you have to go through to get a refund? There's that sweet price point for scammers of "Not enough to make them care about getting a refund" that's yet to be determined.
Don't.
I'm coming at this from two sides. From the first, I do technical support for a living, quite enjoy it, and on the side I fix computers at a low rate so that people can afford it. I'll even remote into machines for well under a dollar a minute. I'm also providing a service (not just knowledge). When it comes to the knowledge, I have stuff on my blog (http://tidbitsfortechs.com) that is free. I've always believed that knowledge is free, service costs, and so Google's Helpouts rub me the wrong way a bit.
On the other hand, there is some specialized knowledge that is worth money. The signal/noise ratio on the 'net these days is awful and there's a lot of junk to sort through because of self-proclaimed experts who try to share their "knowledge" with anyone who will listen so that they can feel important, when in reality they're an idiot. If I can spend a few bucks to talk to a real expert on a subject, their advice is worth every penny. But will the signal to noise ratio on Helpouts be any better than the Internet at large?
Now, mind you, I've taken my fair share of money for just knowledge- but that comes with a reputation, referrals, interviews, and the like. I don't think I'd be comfortable spending even a dollar a minute to talk to someone who is a self proclaimed expert (even as I am on some subjects) without references I can trust. Online reviews are proven to be flawed in general and I don't believe they are trustworthy in many cases. *cough*Amazon*cough*
So from my perspective, good luck Google Helpouts. You'll need it.
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
1) We need to make encryption open source
2) The organizations themselves and the code will be the target of penetration by all governments so audit and correction will be key
3) Systems need to be consumer friendly. For example: Do you want to send this e-mail securely? Y/N - Be advised that Secure e-mails are not delivered immediately (or whatever)
4) Remember that governments can afford dedicated chip sets for encryption cracking.
I didn't know that language learning was a "vertical", let alone a "specialized vertical".
Fuck you, timothy.
Is Nigella doing cooking help?
I hate that the summary dropped the name Quora, because I hate that site.
No, I do NOT want to sign in to read your crap.
Please STOP making shadow pages that trick search engines into indexing your content.
Plenty of things simply can't be properly conveyed via text alone. Hence, Google has made a voice/video helper system so people around the world can get help from anyone else around the world, see their face, hear their voice, and gain a larger degree of confidence.
I only charge $5 for a maximum 30 minute session. Many other people are way overpricing themselves.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Because you'll have questions and your vaunted Youtube/TV can't provide you with IMMEDIATE feedback nor can either understand what you may be asking or need.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
I suppose it's too late to ask that parent be modded insightful...
This is the first time I hear about paying for a service delivered via webcam that isn't porn.
my intuition is there will be a lot of dongs
We're not employees... why should we help them for free? They have enough money to hire their own experts to field questions.
Will this be like eHow and YouTube, which are flooded by low-quality information articles/videos, usually done by people who have no clue about the subjects, and do them in volume? How is Google going to make this meaningful?
So you all missed this ?
http://willweinraub.com/post/66100105668/dear-google-thanks-for-copying-my-startup-but-youre
I've done technical support for 17 years. It would be nice to have this as a side job. I am very good at technical support and remote training... but does that translate into people consistently giving me money? Only time will tell if Helpouts becomes dominated by primarily free amateurs, or if professional paid services maintain a toe-hold in the premium area.
I'd also be interested if Helpouts get some kind of freemium model... will users direct users from a free helpout to a paid one? "Oh, I'm sorry, that problem is beyond my poor free skills. Hey, you should take a look at baitswitch13's Helpout, he is an expert in that!"
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
This is the first time I hear about paying for a service delivered via webcam that isn't porn yet.
FTFY