19 ms·

Introducing Google Helpouts

173 points by hiroaki 13y ago

javadi82 13y ago
My take on this is that Google is using Helpouts to figure out - what are the queries people cannot use Google for.
xb95 13y ago
This would help with the times I've just wanted to ask someone "so, does this shirt actually go with these pants, or am I totally crazy?" All joking aside, this could be interesting. It makes me think of that service that existed for a while where you could ask a question of a topic area, and it would send an IM to people and ask them to answer it. I forget what it was called, but I used it for a little while. The payment/HIPAA compliance aspect are pretty interesting, too. I would easily throw $50 at a 10 minute consult with a doctor instead of having to make an appointment and haul myself in to the local clinic. Particularly if said doctor could then fax a prescription for something completely boring but still not OTC to my local pharmacy.
- BrandonY 13y ago
  Are you thinking of Aardvark? I think Google bought that a while back and then discontinued it.
  - xb95 13y ago
    Yes, thank you! That's exactly it.
  - ekianjo 13y ago
    Aardvark was great at the time. I especially loved the integration with gmail, it made it very seamless to think about something and just drop a question in a couple of seconds. It's a shame they stopped it.
- ilaksh 13y ago
  There are other services like that. I think JustAnswer is one of them.
  - tayk 13y ago
    Wizpert (http://wizpert.com http://wizpert.com) is one as well.
- car 13y ago
  Said doctor should come to you, as is customary in many countries. Instead, in the US you have to drag your sick self in to see a physician. And pay a boatload for a 5 minute consult; ridiculous.
  - enko 13y ago
    While I'm by no means a fan of the US health care system, it seems pretty wasteful for high-value doctors to be wasting their precious time travelling to see patients. Perhaps videoconferencing could be a good option for simple cases (viagra, sleeping pills) while a medical pick-up system could be instituted for patients requiring in-person consultations, but lacking mobility or the urgency required for an ambulance.
    - GFischer 13y ago
      It's usually not "high-value doctors". Here in Uruguay, the lowest rung of doctors (which are the ones you get on call) are paid about U$ 1500/month. And they did at least 7 years of studies (which are tuition-free in Uruguay). A lot of them are emigrating to Brazil of course.
      - mistermann 13y ago
        > they did at least 7 years of studies (which are tuition-free in Uruguay). It's not their wage that is important, it is the value of their skills and time. If two people must meet face to face, it is most efficient use of resources to have the least skilled person spend their time traveling.
        redblacktree 13y ago
        So if I'm say, a top-tier nuclear physicist, the doc should come to me? Who makes the determination?
        tagold 13y ago
        Price. That's in market based economy, of cause.
- brokenmusic 13y ago
  You should consider http://coinmd.org http://coinmd.org then. They're cheaper and seem to give really good advice so far. It's anonymous for doctors though, so of course, there's a risk in that. However, I read through their faq and find their policy of selecting and working with doctors quite convincing.
- commandar 13y ago
  >I would easily throw $50 at a 10 minute consult with a doctor instead of having to make an appointment and haul myself in to the local clinic. I remember hearing an NPR report recently about some doctors running their private practice similar to that. They were basically operating on a subscription model - they would come see you if needed, but for quick consults and the like, they'd do things like Skype calls to talk with their patients. Struck me as a very interesting idea. EDIT: This isn't the report I'm thinking of, but it's very similar: http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-virtual-urgent-care-the-doctor-will-skype-you-now/ http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-virtual-urgent-care-the-... This is for urgent care, but as I said above, I've heard similar reports about private practices working this way.
jsonne 13y ago
It's interesting that Google seems to be moving into the freelance space. I wonder if they're going to stay in the limited fashion, or expand to go after Odesk etc.
rurounijones 13y ago
This could be a great way to monetize skills. Youtube channel with tutorials, how-to's etc. to build up your credibility. Google Helpouts to help people directly when they want to go beyond the tutorials or get that little extra.
dingaling 13y ago
An interesting new avenue for Google, where the results and satisfaction are entirely subjective, according to perception of the customer. With search results or Gmail they can hand-wave away dis-satisfaction my saying the 99th percentile are happy, but this is one-on-one. I can see the Money Back Guarantee being quite a support burden. But why are Google doing this? It's not really "organizing the World's information" because it keeps knowledge compartmentalised in the 'experts'.
- bambax 13y ago
  Agreed. It may be useful but I don't see how it fits Google's overall mission; Google Answers were more relevant and they killed it (a long time ago). Maybe the strategy is to eventually make sessions public? which would actually add value for the community. Or it's a cheap ploy to get people to use Google+ (and if so, good luck with that).
  - dingaling 13y ago
    "Google Answers were more relevant and they killed it (a long time ago)." Oh I had quite forgotten about that! Good point. See how things used to look :) http://answers.google.com/answers/ http://answers.google.com/answers/ At least with Google Answers the information was public.
  - ewzimm 13y ago
    This is the core concept of organizing the world's information. If you think otherwise, you don't realize that the majority of the world's information is held by individuals for brief periods of time and specific to its application. The generalized consensus has already been archived, but insights into emergent things that come up in life have not. Connecting people with each other to give advice about situations that can't be predicted but can be categorized is the next step.
  - joelrunyon 13y ago
    > Or it's a cheap ploy to get people to use Google+ Everything Google's done lately has been about Google+
sachitgupta 13y ago
Remarkably similar to sites like https://clarity.fm/home https://clarity.fm/home and https://www.popexpert.com/ https://www.popexpert.com/
adamzerner 13y ago
This feels like "online tutoring to me". And as far as tutoring goes, I feel like most of the time it's better to automate it. Like using treehouse instead of getting a programming tutor. I could see some situations where it'd be useful though. - If you have a quick question and are really frustrated and are willing to pay. - Sometimes you care a lot or have a lot of money, and are willing to get a tutor. - Some things (like doctor appointments) might be better served online than in person.
- intellegacy 13y ago
  Yep, they're targeting tutors. They contacted me (SAT Tutor) and got me to signup. I haven't completed the registration yet as they want me to schedule a phone interview with them and I don't see how it can help me yet.
amaks 13y ago
This is obviously a Google's version of Mechanical Turk
salilpa 13y ago
Is this some way of popularizing hangouts?
fourstar 13y ago
It's almost as if Google answers has been somewhat resurrected. Definitely keeping an eye on this.
mostelato 13y ago
Skype used to have something like this in 2006-ish...
banachtarski 13y ago
My kneejerk reaction is to wonder when this will go the way of Google Wave and Google Reader.
- btgeekboy 13y ago
  Exactly. Mine was, "Cool; how long's this one gonna last?" It seems like a neat idea, but I bet the novelty is going to wear off pretty quickly.
- code_duck 13y ago
  If you think it's interesting, better go ahead and use it now then. Otherwise, if it's canceled, you'll never even know if you would have been missing it.
- patrickaljord 13y ago
  How original. A comment mentioning reader and wave on a new Google product announcement thread. Can we move on already? Innovating companies try and fail a lot, like any startups.
  - banachtarski 13y ago
    Who said Reader and Wave "tried and failed?" I liked those products.
nodata 13y ago
So this is a solution to the "problem" of people looking up how to do something on youtube, now you can ask an expert and get detailed two-way feedback.
- draugadrotten 13y ago
  This will fail. Why? Because the financial incentives of the helper are set up wrong, "paid by the minute" will reward slow talkers and slow help. This will make customers unhappy and customers will choose help from cheaper, faster sources. The DYI video success will be better the shorter and better the video is, and I'd rather pay-per-video. If I wanted to talk to a human, there are millions nearby in the city. A DYI video can explain in 2-3 minutes what will take a human 60 minutes in a meeting including greetings and other social fluff.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > Because the financial incentives of the helper are set up wrong, "paid by the minute" will reward slow talkers and slow help. Most of the listings are listed with either the form "$X per Helpout" or "$X per Helpout or $Y per minute". So, it doesn't look like paid by the minute is either the only supported or even the dominant model. So this objection seems misplaced. > The DYI video success will be better the shorter and better the video is, and I'd rather pay-per-video. Canned DIY videos are widely available, and serve a different need that person-to-person consultation. > If I wanted to talk to a human, there are millions nearby in the city. Not everyone lives in or near a city with millions of people. And not all those millions in the city are experts in the field that you are concerned about. > A DYI video can explain in 2-3 minutes what will take a human 60 minutes in a meeting including greetings and other social fluff. Sure, if there is a specific enough DIY video, that may be the case. OTOH, finding a specific-enough DIY video for a particular need can be a hassle, and in many cases of not particularly common specific needs may not be practical. (Plus, its quite possible for the experts that do Helpouts to do DIY videos, and to identify good opportunities for DIY videos from what questions they get through Helpouts. Its not a one-way communication.)
ancarda 13y ago
My initial reaction is "cool, but I won't use it as it'll be shutdown soon enough". I wonder if enough people avoid new Google products due to shutdown fears so it leads to a product ultimately being shutdown due to neglect. A bit of a vicious cycle.
- detst 13y ago
  > I wonder if enough people avoid new Google products due to shutdown fears [...] I doubt it. That attitude is mostly a HN/geek thing. I like that they're willing to try things and test for viability in the real world. I'd rather have something and for it go away than to never have it at all. (And yes, I do understand the frustrations with Reader but I wouldn't go back in time and never use it from the start)
  - ancarda 13y ago
    This wasn't about Reader specifically. Google has shutdown a lot of products. The latest being Google Checkout, which makes people nervous of building their business on Google's software. Since this service is paid, I could be netting a lot of money through it, only for it to fizzle out.
    - icebraining 13y ago
      Yeah, Google Checkout only lasted seven years. I could barely make an account, and it was closed!
    - detst 13y ago
      > Since this service is paid, I could be netting a lot of money through it, only for it to fizzle out. But that's true of any service from any company. If I'm a stay-at-home mom making some extra cash on Helpouts, I have a very different risk profile than a doctor who closes down his practice to see patients exclusively through Helpouts. The stay-at-home mom might not be happy about a shutdown but she still "[netted] a lot of money" whereas the doctor might have destroyed his/her career. Every individual/company needs to assess their own risk and take the appropriate risk-mitigating actions. The point I'm making is that the damages from a Google service shutdown are typically very low or easily mitigated (Google Checkout being no exception) and every service should be evaluated on an individual basis with your risk profile. If the value you are getting from any service is lower than the damages that would result from a shutdown, don't put all of your eggs in that basket; if you do anyway, get some contractual guarantees and be confident that they will be fulfilled.
swansw 13y ago
At this point I don't even know what will convince me that stuff like this that Google releases isn't yet another dead-in-a-year product. We've seen a number of great service being killed just in the past few months alone. What makes this any different? My only advice to kids is: don't make this something you depend on. Remember if you aren't paying for it, you're the product, and Google could care less about you and your silly needs when it comes time for some Spring Cleaning™.
- afsina 13y ago
  Oh please drop this "Oh Google killed Reader" drama already. If you are interested in this use it. Engage as a user first if you do not trust. This is not a life and death application anyway (Reader or many of the dead services were not either). Products may or may not live they need to see if this will float or sink.
- oliciv 13y ago
  You may think that you're blowing peoples' minds with that "you're the product" line - but if you're literally selling your skills then that is the whole point - it's a positive!
ilaksh 13y ago
I wonder if this uses WebRTC. Or regardless maybe I should make a clone using WebRTC.
saiko-chriskun 13y ago
Am I the only one that doesn't understand all the google hate? (about discontinuing a few of their products)
- gpo 13y ago
  Yes.
- josephlord 13y ago
  Many people were of the belief that Google was primarily motivated to be good[1] and bring benefits to the internet and if they made some money for shareholders that would be nice too[2]. They were (and still are) massively trusted. Closing down services and increasing the ad prominence in search, turning into the big bureaucratic bully rather than the small snappy startup has come as a nasty shock to a number of people and they then feel betrayed and angry at Google. It is precisely those who trusted them most who are most angry. The irrational love has now flipped (for many not all) into irrational hate (to use your word). Those on the sidelines who never trusted Google enough to look after their mail might find both the love and the hatred overblown but many people feel heavily dependent on Google with Android phones, Gmail accounts and using Google Docs heavily. They worry not just about the current situation but what might come next. [1] "don't be evil" [2] I seem to recall the IPO prospectus didn't make shareholder returns seem a very high priority.
- patrickaljord 13y ago
  I find it ridiculous too. Just take it as a cute HN excentricity.
- jpadkins 13y ago
  could possibly be 'paid contributors' from MS funded marketing agencies (scroogled campaign). Paying for social media influence is a real thing.
- Segmentation 13y ago
  It's just the vocal minority. Don't fuel the trolls.
bdcravens 13y ago
Feels less Odesk, more Clarity.fm to me
panabee 13y ago
wonder if this will get integrated into google search results as a way to help users with subjective questions not well addressed by google search ... e.g., search for "best way to bake a cake" and see as an option the ability to chat with an expert live.
yanivs 13y ago
Looks good but just not something that fits Google's DNA. A smaller & hungrier startup could have been a better place for this kind of marketplace
- risratorn 13y ago
  The first thing I thought when I read that was "they launch this after they shut down stuff like Google Reader". I guess it's all about making money now for google. If something is profitable it has to go :(
  - pestaa 13y ago
    You meant not profitable, right?
- icebraining 13y ago
  I agree, if nothing else because it'll probably need support to work properly, and calling Google's support non-existent would be an understatement.
fit2rule 13y ago
Congratulations Google, you just re-invented IRC.
- diminoten 13y ago
  Yeah, pay-per-assist interactive 1:1 video. Basically IRC.
  - fit2rule 13y ago
    Clue: you don't need the video part.
7Figures2Commas 13y ago
Interesting product. As others have pointed out, there are a number of similar services, many of them vertically-focused. Google says it's starting small, but Helpouts is already quite broad. Covering lots of subjects won't be such a problem if Google leverages search and YouTube to promote relevant providers, but I'm not sure it will.
ivanbrussik 13y ago
interesting, we'll see if consumers pick this up. I personally just think it is somehow another way to funnel people into G+. Sidenote: 71 indexed pages site:helpouts.google.com thusfar.
jmotion 13y ago
So what technologies is this using for streaming etc..
- rurounijones 13y ago
  My guess would be WebRTC or whatever it is google hangouts use at the moment.
cromwellian 13y ago
Reader derangement syndrome strikes again. Summarizing the thread, if you're are an early adopter of anything, you run the risk it won't be here in a year. That's what we tolerate in the tech arena, start ups throwing lots of good and dumb ideas at the wall to see what sticks, evolution in action. How many people who built their business on Facebook's F8 platform went belly up due to changes? Google is a company that is constantly experimenting with new products and services. Yes, some of them will fail. That's the cost of innovation. It's really sad we've forgotten that. Failure is an acceptable risk to move forward. If you're risk averse, leave the opportunity to others to jump in and place their bets if Helpouts is a winning platform for them.
- derefr 13y ago
  > It's really sad we've forgotten that. I don't think anyone's forgotten; we forgive small companies for trying-and-failing to do something cool all the time. For some reason, though, we (as an angry mob) seem to be incapable of allowing big companies to try-and-fail at exactly the same sorts of things. (Personally, I think it might have something to do with how ancestral-environment humans saw leaders making promises as mostly a chance to tear them down from their dominant positions.)
  - k__ 13y ago
    I think it's because we expect start-ups to fail, most of them do. Big companies fail, too, but less often, because they once were part of the few start-ups who didn't fail. If you want high-end and are happy to live with the risk, you go to a start-up. If you want safety and are happy to live with a more conservative approach, you go to a big company. If the big one fails, you feel robbed of your safety.
    - derefr 13y ago
      But why can't people differentiate between "big company serving their regular audience" and "big company trying something new"? The something-new ventures, no matter how hard they fail, never affect the ability of the company to deliver on their something-safe ventures. For example, no matter how much of a flop a new version of Ubuntu is, it won't stop them from supporting the LTS versions.
kmfrk 13y ago
Makes perfect sense to piggyback on the success of DIY/how-to guides on YouTube, but that said, I have idea whether it's going to catch on. Clearly Google should try this out either way.
atmosx 13y ago
Can someone explain to me what's the difference between this and a skype/FaceTime session? Because I am confused.
- code_duck 13y ago
  It is a 3rd party arranged video chat between strangers intended to fulfill a specified purpose, involving a payment and reputation system. How is that different than a skype/FaceTime session? The video interaction part is likely similar. But a mere video chat session is a much more general idea than this specific use of video chat.
anon1385 13y ago
>Today, we’re announcing Helpouts—a new way to get and give help over live video. I'm confused, hasn't this existed for months? Here is an earlier HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771
- abrahamsen 13y ago
  This is the public release.
  - rahul286 13y ago
    It still asks for invitation code. I think its not fully open yet!
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
mikeevans 13y ago
Shameless plug, but if you want to try out a Helpout, or learn a little Android development, you can check out my listing here: https://helpouts.google.com/114052868601022948953/ls/a65184ab017ae8b0 https://helpouts.google.com/114052868601022948953/ls/a65184a...
robinwarren 13y ago
For anyone interested in a tech specific version of this there is a site http://anyfu.com/ http://anyfu.com/ (I'm a fan but not associated). I believe this model for connecting people for very brief engagements over the internet is an interesting one. With the educational model being pushed by companies like Coursera I could see something like this becoming popular for access to tutors or even peers studying the same subject. For quick help solving a problem there is obviously a problem of getting to sufficient scale in a 2-sided market place. Perhaps google will achieve that. I suppose the risk is becoming the yahoo answers or the expersexchange of the space.
eliot_sykes 13y ago
I wonder if there's something in this that could be used to provide extra income to open source contributors. I'd be interested to see GitHub experiment with providing their own service like this for the open source projects it hosts. A project could designate certain contributors as experts and say you're having a problem with that project, you could talk with an expert via GitHub, for a per-minute fee, with an optional minimum of 15 minutes (for example). I'd guess it'd be more likely to succeed by being right there integrated in GitHub's UI, rather than shoehorning just a link to Google Helpouts or another service into a project's README.
ChikkaChiChi 13y ago
Google's biggest enemy will continue to be themselves. If they are unable to promote and market this save for a few blog postings (as is their want to so often do) then it will die on the vine...just like so many other projects of theirs they can.
jroseattle 13y ago
The idea of a marketplace for experts is intriguing. I can't imagine this will ever work well, though. - Google is presently curating this list, approving everyone who would be a provider. This is fine for launch, but this obviously needs to scale. - From a functional standpoint, this is the Human App Store. How do I, the provider, promote myself among thousands of search results for underwater-basket-weaving experts? - Race to the bottom: I don't associate Google with any sort of premium pricing model. If I think my services are worth more than the low-cost providers, but I'm one of a thousand providers, am I going to have to go the only other route Google tends to provide -- paid advertising placement? The idea is interesting, but I don't think Google will ever position it to be helpful to anyone but users and themselves.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
gz5 13y ago
I signed up in the beta, mainly to learn how Google is approaching this. Observations: + High degree of curation and investment in quality + High investment of people to achieve the above For example, I did a live video interview with a knowledgeable Google rep and she had several recommendations. About a week later, my submission was reviewed again, with even more (good) recommendations.
fpp 13y ago
Anybody looked at the pricing of some of the services offered - e.g. end user: help with your printer - $45 per help - $2 per minute (guess that will always be more than the printer was actually retailing for) General computer help $10 (per incident) $2 per minute maybe contact your printer / computer support team first - many today have online / real-time chat features now for free.
X4 13y ago
Personally I really love this idea, but isn't anyone else seriously concerned that Google is taking over the whole `World's Information Economy`? I think BuyOuts should be regulated, this could help the whole industry and econmy. Google should probably be fined with multi billion penalties for using their monopoly power. • ISP's with Google Fiber • PayPal and Banking Industry → Google Wallet + Google Checkout • Automobile Industry → Google Car • TelCo's → Android+Nexus (a google plan soon?) • Small Businesses in "successfull niche sectors" → BuyOuts • RIAA, Music and Video Industry → Google Play • Energy Industry → "Energy startup" BuyOuts • Spy Agencies → =sumOf(Google Products) • …And even more that I've not listed, or that is to come… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products -- IMHO: (Services stealing the market of businesses, who lost their job or company should be paid their loss. Services not focusing on their main product should be forced to get closed, or get opened up to the public. I know this is very harsh and I don't think that all of this is necessary or should really be done, but someone has to stop Google from acting so dominantly and strategically. They're aiming for world leadership, nothing less and are killing every enemy sector, one by one. This is not a paranoid act of me to boycott Google. I use their services every day. But I don't want them to kill every other sector, just because they're not innovating as fast as Google can (by forcing innovators to a BuyOut with millon/billion dollor offers).)
ChuckMcM 13y ago
The comments here show an interesting legacy that Google is developing. The lack of durability in its products. I think the helpout concept is great, although only a small step up from the fact that for many things there is a youtube video it seems explaining how to do something. But it could be killer in education, specifically is MOOCs are the new college, what is the new TA? This could work there.
nathanb 13y ago
The only way I would consider using this service is if Google started advertising paid support of their own products on it.

173 points by hiroaki 13y ago

My take on this is that Google is using Helpouts to figure out - what are the queries people cannot use Google for.

xb95 13y ago

This would help with the times I've just wanted to ask someone "so, does this shirt actually go with these pants, or am I totally crazy?" All joking aside, this could be interesting. It makes me think of that service that existed for a while where you could ask a question of a topic area, and it would send an IM to people and ask them to answer it. I forget what it was called, but I used it for a little while. The payment/HIPAA compliance aspect are pretty interesting, too. I would easily throw $50 at a 10 minute consult with a doctor instead of having to make an appointment and haul myself in to the local clinic. Particularly if said doctor could then fax a prescription for something completely boring but still not OTC to my local pharmacy.

BrandonY 13y ago
Are you thinking of Aardvark? I think Google bought that a while back and then discontinued it.
- xb95 13y ago
  Yes, thank you! That's exactly it.
- ekianjo 13y ago
  Aardvark was great at the time. I especially loved the integration with gmail, it made it very seamless to think about something and just drop a question in a couple of seconds. It's a shame they stopped it.
ilaksh 13y ago
There are other services like that. I think JustAnswer is one of them.
- tayk 13y ago
  Wizpert (http://wizpert.com http://wizpert.com) is one as well.
car 13y ago
Said doctor should come to you, as is customary in many countries. Instead, in the US you have to drag your sick self in to see a physician. And pay a boatload for a 5 minute consult; ridiculous.
- enko 13y ago
  While I'm by no means a fan of the US health care system, it seems pretty wasteful for high-value doctors to be wasting their precious time travelling to see patients. Perhaps videoconferencing could be a good option for simple cases (viagra, sleeping pills) while a medical pick-up system could be instituted for patients requiring in-person consultations, but lacking mobility or the urgency required for an ambulance.
  - GFischer 13y ago
    It's usually not "high-value doctors". Here in Uruguay, the lowest rung of doctors (which are the ones you get on call) are paid about U$ 1500/month. And they did at least 7 years of studies (which are tuition-free in Uruguay). A lot of them are emigrating to Brazil of course.
    - mistermann 13y ago
      > they did at least 7 years of studies (which are tuition-free in Uruguay). It's not their wage that is important, it is the value of their skills and time. If two people must meet face to face, it is most efficient use of resources to have the least skilled person spend their time traveling.
      - redblacktree 13y ago
        So if I'm say, a top-tier nuclear physicist, the doc should come to me? Who makes the determination?
        tagold 13y ago
        Price. That's in market based economy, of cause.
brokenmusic 13y ago
You should consider http://coinmd.org http://coinmd.org then. They're cheaper and seem to give really good advice so far. It's anonymous for doctors though, so of course, there's a risk in that. However, I read through their faq and find their policy of selecting and working with doctors quite convincing.
commandar 13y ago
>I would easily throw $50 at a 10 minute consult with a doctor instead of having to make an appointment and haul myself in to the local clinic. I remember hearing an NPR report recently about some doctors running their private practice similar to that. They were basically operating on a subscription model - they would come see you if needed, but for quick consults and the like, they'd do things like Skype calls to talk with their patients. Struck me as a very interesting idea. EDIT: This isn't the report I'm thinking of, but it's very similar: http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-virtual-urgent-care-the-doctor-will-skype-you-now/ http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-virtual-urgent-care-the-... This is for urgent care, but as I said above, I've heard similar reports about private practices working this way.

jsonne 13y ago

It's interesting that Google seems to be moving into the freelance space. I wonder if they're going to stay in the limited fashion, or expand to go after Odesk etc.

rurounijones 13y ago

This could be a great way to monetize skills. Youtube channel with tutorials, how-to's etc. to build up your credibility. Google Helpouts to help people directly when they want to go beyond the tutorials or get that little extra.

dingaling 13y ago

An interesting new avenue for Google, where the results and satisfaction are entirely subjective, according to perception of the customer. With search results or Gmail they can hand-wave away dis-satisfaction my saying the 99th percentile are happy, but this is one-on-one. I can see the Money Back Guarantee being quite a support burden. But why are Google doing this? It's not really "organizing the World's information" because it keeps knowledge compartmentalised in the 'experts'.

bambax 13y ago
Agreed. It may be useful but I don't see how it fits Google's overall mission; Google Answers were more relevant and they killed it (a long time ago). Maybe the strategy is to eventually make sessions public? which would actually add value for the community. Or it's a cheap ploy to get people to use Google+ (and if so, good luck with that).
- dingaling 13y ago
  "Google Answers were more relevant and they killed it (a long time ago)." Oh I had quite forgotten about that! Good point. See how things used to look :) http://answers.google.com/answers/ http://answers.google.com/answers/ At least with Google Answers the information was public.
- ewzimm 13y ago
  This is the core concept of organizing the world's information. If you think otherwise, you don't realize that the majority of the world's information is held by individuals for brief periods of time and specific to its application. The generalized consensus has already been archived, but insights into emergent things that come up in life have not. Connecting people with each other to give advice about situations that can't be predicted but can be categorized is the next step.
- joelrunyon 13y ago
  > Or it's a cheap ploy to get people to use Google+ Everything Google's done lately has been about Google+

sachitgupta 13y ago

Remarkably similar to sites like https://clarity.fm/home https://clarity.fm/home and https://www.popexpert.com/ https://www.popexpert.com/

adamzerner 13y ago

This feels like "online tutoring to me". And as far as tutoring goes, I feel like most of the time it's better to automate it. Like using treehouse instead of getting a programming tutor. I could see some situations where it'd be useful though. - If you have a quick question and are really frustrated and are willing to pay. - Sometimes you care a lot or have a lot of money, and are willing to get a tutor. - Some things (like doctor appointments) might be better served online than in person.

intellegacy 13y ago
Yep, they're targeting tutors. They contacted me (SAT Tutor) and got me to signup. I haven't completed the registration yet as they want me to schedule a phone interview with them and I don't see how it can help me yet.

amaks 13y ago

This is obviously a Google's version of Mechanical Turk

salilpa 13y ago

Is this some way of popularizing hangouts?

fourstar 13y ago

It's almost as if Google answers has been somewhat resurrected. Definitely keeping an eye on this.

mostelato 13y ago

Skype used to have something like this in 2006-ish...

banachtarski 13y ago

My kneejerk reaction is to wonder when this will go the way of Google Wave and Google Reader.

btgeekboy 13y ago
Exactly. Mine was, "Cool; how long's this one gonna last?" It seems like a neat idea, but I bet the novelty is going to wear off pretty quickly.
code_duck 13y ago
If you think it's interesting, better go ahead and use it now then. Otherwise, if it's canceled, you'll never even know if you would have been missing it.
patrickaljord 13y ago
How original. A comment mentioning reader and wave on a new Google product announcement thread. Can we move on already? Innovating companies try and fail a lot, like any startups.
- banachtarski 13y ago
  Who said Reader and Wave "tried and failed?" I liked those products.

nodata 13y ago

So this is a solution to the "problem" of people looking up how to do something on youtube, now you can ask an expert and get detailed two-way feedback.

draugadrotten 13y ago
This will fail. Why? Because the financial incentives of the helper are set up wrong, "paid by the minute" will reward slow talkers and slow help. This will make customers unhappy and customers will choose help from cheaper, faster sources. The DYI video success will be better the shorter and better the video is, and I'd rather pay-per-video. If I wanted to talk to a human, there are millions nearby in the city. A DYI video can explain in 2-3 minutes what will take a human 60 minutes in a meeting including greetings and other social fluff.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > Because the financial incentives of the helper are set up wrong, "paid by the minute" will reward slow talkers and slow help. Most of the listings are listed with either the form "$X per Helpout" or "$X per Helpout or $Y per minute". So, it doesn't look like paid by the minute is either the only supported or even the dominant model. So this objection seems misplaced. > The DYI video success will be better the shorter and better the video is, and I'd rather pay-per-video. Canned DIY videos are widely available, and serve a different need that person-to-person consultation. > If I wanted to talk to a human, there are millions nearby in the city. Not everyone lives in or near a city with millions of people. And not all those millions in the city are experts in the field that you are concerned about. > A DYI video can explain in 2-3 minutes what will take a human 60 minutes in a meeting including greetings and other social fluff. Sure, if there is a specific enough DIY video, that may be the case. OTOH, finding a specific-enough DIY video for a particular need can be a hassle, and in many cases of not particularly common specific needs may not be practical. (Plus, its quite possible for the experts that do Helpouts to do DIY videos, and to identify good opportunities for DIY videos from what questions they get through Helpouts. Its not a one-way communication.)

ancarda 13y ago

My initial reaction is "cool, but I won't use it as it'll be shutdown soon enough". I wonder if enough people avoid new Google products due to shutdown fears so it leads to a product ultimately being shutdown due to neglect. A bit of a vicious cycle.

detst 13y ago
> I wonder if enough people avoid new Google products due to shutdown fears [...] I doubt it. That attitude is mostly a HN/geek thing. I like that they're willing to try things and test for viability in the real world. I'd rather have something and for it go away than to never have it at all. (And yes, I do understand the frustrations with Reader but I wouldn't go back in time and never use it from the start)
- ancarda 13y ago
  This wasn't about Reader specifically. Google has shutdown a lot of products. The latest being Google Checkout, which makes people nervous of building their business on Google's software. Since this service is paid, I could be netting a lot of money through it, only for it to fizzle out.
  - icebraining 13y ago
    Yeah, Google Checkout only lasted seven years. I could barely make an account, and it was closed!
  - detst 13y ago
    > Since this service is paid, I could be netting a lot of money through it, only for it to fizzle out. But that's true of any service from any company. If I'm a stay-at-home mom making some extra cash on Helpouts, I have a very different risk profile than a doctor who closes down his practice to see patients exclusively through Helpouts. The stay-at-home mom might not be happy about a shutdown but she still "[netted] a lot of money" whereas the doctor might have destroyed his/her career. Every individual/company needs to assess their own risk and take the appropriate risk-mitigating actions. The point I'm making is that the damages from a Google service shutdown are typically very low or easily mitigated (Google Checkout being no exception) and every service should be evaluated on an individual basis with your risk profile. If the value you are getting from any service is lower than the damages that would result from a shutdown, don't put all of your eggs in that basket; if you do anyway, get some contractual guarantees and be confident that they will be fulfilled.

swansw 13y ago

At this point I don't even know what will convince me that stuff like this that Google releases isn't yet another dead-in-a-year product. We've seen a number of great service being killed just in the past few months alone. What makes this any different? My only advice to kids is: don't make this something you depend on. Remember if you aren't paying for it, you're the product, and Google could care less about you and your silly needs when it comes time for some Spring Cleaning™.

afsina 13y ago
Oh please drop this "Oh Google killed Reader" drama already. If you are interested in this use it. Engage as a user first if you do not trust. This is not a life and death application anyway (Reader or many of the dead services were not either). Products may or may not live they need to see if this will float or sink.
oliciv 13y ago
You may think that you're blowing peoples' minds with that "you're the product" line - but if you're literally selling your skills then that is the whole point - it's a positive!

ilaksh 13y ago

I wonder if this uses WebRTC. Or regardless maybe I should make a clone using WebRTC.

saiko-chriskun 13y ago

Am I the only one that doesn't understand all the google hate? (about discontinuing a few of their products)

gpo 13y ago
Yes.
josephlord 13y ago
Many people were of the belief that Google was primarily motivated to be good[1] and bring benefits to the internet and if they made some money for shareholders that would be nice too[2]. They were (and still are) massively trusted. Closing down services and increasing the ad prominence in search, turning into the big bureaucratic bully rather than the small snappy startup has come as a nasty shock to a number of people and they then feel betrayed and angry at Google. It is precisely those who trusted them most who are most angry. The irrational love has now flipped (for many not all) into irrational hate (to use your word). Those on the sidelines who never trusted Google enough to look after their mail might find both the love and the hatred overblown but many people feel heavily dependent on Google with Android phones, Gmail accounts and using Google Docs heavily. They worry not just about the current situation but what might come next. [1] "don't be evil" [2] I seem to recall the IPO prospectus didn't make shareholder returns seem a very high priority.
patrickaljord 13y ago
I find it ridiculous too. Just take it as a cute HN excentricity.
jpadkins 13y ago
could possibly be 'paid contributors' from MS funded marketing agencies (scroogled campaign). Paying for social media influence is a real thing.
Segmentation 13y ago
It's just the vocal minority. Don't fuel the trolls.

bdcravens 13y ago

Feels less Odesk, more Clarity.fm to me

panabee 13y ago

wonder if this will get integrated into google search results as a way to help users with subjective questions not well addressed by google search ... e.g., search for "best way to bake a cake" and see as an option the ability to chat with an expert live.

yanivs 13y ago

Looks good but just not something that fits Google's DNA. A smaller & hungrier startup could have been a better place for this kind of marketplace

risratorn 13y ago
The first thing I thought when I read that was "they launch this after they shut down stuff like Google Reader". I guess it's all about making money now for google. If something is profitable it has to go :(
- pestaa 13y ago
  You meant not profitable, right?
icebraining 13y ago
I agree, if nothing else because it'll probably need support to work properly, and calling Google's support non-existent would be an understatement.

fit2rule 13y ago

Congratulations Google, you just re-invented IRC.

diminoten 13y ago
Yeah, pay-per-assist interactive 1:1 video. Basically IRC.
- fit2rule 13y ago
  Clue: you don't need the video part.

7Figures2Commas 13y ago

Interesting product. As others have pointed out, there are a number of similar services, many of them vertically-focused. Google says it's starting small, but Helpouts is already quite broad. Covering lots of subjects won't be such a problem if Google leverages search and YouTube to promote relevant providers, but I'm not sure it will.

ivanbrussik 13y ago

interesting, we'll see if consumers pick this up. I personally just think it is somehow another way to funnel people into G+. Sidenote: 71 indexed pages site:helpouts.google.com thusfar.

jmotion 13y ago

So what technologies is this using for streaming etc..

rurounijones 13y ago
My guess would be WebRTC or whatever it is google hangouts use at the moment.

cromwellian 13y ago

Reader derangement syndrome strikes again. Summarizing the thread, if you're are an early adopter of anything, you run the risk it won't be here in a year. That's what we tolerate in the tech arena, start ups throwing lots of good and dumb ideas at the wall to see what sticks, evolution in action. How many people who built their business on Facebook's F8 platform went belly up due to changes? Google is a company that is constantly experimenting with new products and services. Yes, some of them will fail. That's the cost of innovation. It's really sad we've forgotten that. Failure is an acceptable risk to move forward. If you're risk averse, leave the opportunity to others to jump in and place their bets if Helpouts is a winning platform for them.

derefr 13y ago
> It's really sad we've forgotten that. I don't think anyone's forgotten; we forgive small companies for trying-and-failing to do something cool all the time. For some reason, though, we (as an angry mob) seem to be incapable of allowing big companies to try-and-fail at exactly the same sorts of things. (Personally, I think it might have something to do with how ancestral-environment humans saw leaders making promises as mostly a chance to tear them down from their dominant positions.)
- k__ 13y ago
  I think it's because we expect start-ups to fail, most of them do. Big companies fail, too, but less often, because they once were part of the few start-ups who didn't fail. If you want high-end and are happy to live with the risk, you go to a start-up. If you want safety and are happy to live with a more conservative approach, you go to a big company. If the big one fails, you feel robbed of your safety.
  - derefr 13y ago
    But why can't people differentiate between "big company serving their regular audience" and "big company trying something new"? The something-new ventures, no matter how hard they fail, never affect the ability of the company to deliver on their something-safe ventures. For example, no matter how much of a flop a new version of Ubuntu is, it won't stop them from supporting the LTS versions.

kmfrk 13y ago

Makes perfect sense to piggyback on the success of DIY/how-to guides on YouTube, but that said, I have idea whether it's going to catch on. Clearly Google should try this out either way.

atmosx 13y ago

Can someone explain to me what's the difference between this and a skype/FaceTime session? Because I am confused.

code_duck 13y ago
It is a 3rd party arranged video chat between strangers intended to fulfill a specified purpose, involving a payment and reputation system. How is that different than a skype/FaceTime session? The video interaction part is likely similar. But a mere video chat session is a much more general idea than this specific use of video chat.

anon1385 13y ago

>Today, we’re announcing Helpouts—a new way to get and give help over live video. I'm confused, hasn't this existed for months? Here is an earlier HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771

abrahamsen 13y ago
This is the public release.
- rahul286 13y ago
  It still asks for invitation code. I think its not fully open yet!
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

mikeevans 13y ago

Shameless plug, but if you want to try out a Helpout, or learn a little Android development, you can check out my listing here: https://helpouts.google.com/114052868601022948953/ls/a65184ab017ae8b0 https://helpouts.google.com/114052868601022948953/ls/a65184a...

robinwarren 13y ago

For anyone interested in a tech specific version of this there is a site http://anyfu.com/ http://anyfu.com/ (I'm a fan but not associated). I believe this model for connecting people for very brief engagements over the internet is an interesting one. With the educational model being pushed by companies like Coursera I could see something like this becoming popular for access to tutors or even peers studying the same subject. For quick help solving a problem there is obviously a problem of getting to sufficient scale in a 2-sided market place. Perhaps google will achieve that. I suppose the risk is becoming the yahoo answers or the expersexchange of the space.

eliot_sykes 13y ago

I wonder if there's something in this that could be used to provide extra income to open source contributors. I'd be interested to see GitHub experiment with providing their own service like this for the open source projects it hosts. A project could designate certain contributors as experts and say you're having a problem with that project, you could talk with an expert via GitHub, for a per-minute fee, with an optional minimum of 15 minutes (for example). I'd guess it'd be more likely to succeed by being right there integrated in GitHub's UI, rather than shoehorning just a link to Google Helpouts or another service into a project's README.

ChikkaChiChi 13y ago

Google's biggest enemy will continue to be themselves. If they are unable to promote and market this save for a few blog postings (as is their want to so often do) then it will die on the vine...just like so many other projects of theirs they can.

jroseattle 13y ago

The idea of a marketplace for experts is intriguing. I can't imagine this will ever work well, though. - Google is presently curating this list, approving everyone who would be a provider. This is fine for launch, but this obviously needs to scale. - From a functional standpoint, this is the Human App Store. How do I, the provider, promote myself among thousands of search results for underwater-basket-weaving experts? - Race to the bottom: I don't associate Google with any sort of premium pricing model. If I think my services are worth more than the low-cost providers, but I'm one of a thousand providers, am I going to have to go the only other route Google tends to provide -- paid advertising placement? The idea is interesting, but I don't think Google will ever position it to be helpful to anyone but users and themselves.

deleted 13y ago

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gz5 13y ago

I signed up in the beta, mainly to learn how Google is approaching this. Observations: + High degree of curation and investment in quality + High investment of people to achieve the above For example, I did a live video interview with a knowledgeable Google rep and she had several recommendations. About a week later, my submission was reviewed again, with even more (good) recommendations.

fpp 13y ago

Anybody looked at the pricing of some of the services offered - e.g. end user: help with your printer - $45 per help - $2 per minute (guess that will always be more than the printer was actually retailing for) General computer help $10 (per incident) $2 per minute maybe contact your printer / computer support team first - many today have online / real-time chat features now for free.

X4 13y ago

Personally I really love this idea, but isn't anyone else seriously concerned that Google is taking over the whole `World's Information Economy`? I think BuyOuts should be regulated, this could help the whole industry and econmy. Google should probably be fined with multi billion penalties for using their monopoly power. • ISP's with Google Fiber • PayPal and Banking Industry → Google Wallet + Google Checkout • Automobile Industry → Google Car • TelCo's → Android+Nexus (a google plan soon?) • Small Businesses in "successfull niche sectors" → BuyOuts • RIAA, Music and Video Industry → Google Play • Energy Industry → "Energy startup" BuyOuts • Spy Agencies → =sumOf(Google Products) • …And even more that I've not listed, or that is to come… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products -- IMHO: (Services stealing the market of businesses, who lost their job or company should be paid their loss. Services not focusing on their main product should be forced to get closed, or get opened up to the public. I know this is very harsh and I don't think that all of this is necessary or should really be done, but someone has to stop Google from acting so dominantly and strategically. They're aiming for world leadership, nothing less and are killing every enemy sector, one by one. This is not a paranoid act of me to boycott Google. I use their services every day. But I don't want them to kill every other sector, just because they're not innovating as fast as Google can (by forcing innovators to a BuyOut with millon/billion dollor offers).)

ChuckMcM 13y ago

The comments here show an interesting legacy that Google is developing. The lack of durability in its products. I think the helpout concept is great, although only a small step up from the fact that for many things there is a youtube video it seems explaining how to do something. But it could be killer in education, specifically is MOOCs are the new college, what is the new TA? This could work there.

nathanb 13y ago

The only way I would consider using this service is if Google started advertising paid support of their own products on it.