Без кейворда

Read highlights from Tuesday’s Twitter talk:

Google Announces Fresh Messaging and Movie Talk Apps – Introducing Allo and Duo

While social media more generally has become a thicker and more significant part of our everyday lives, it’s messaging apps that have indeed taken off in latest times.

Facebook Messenger’s the prime example, going from two hundred million users in two thousand fourteen to nine hundred million now. Of course, Messenger had an advantage, in that Facebook split Messenger from its main app and compelled users to download the Messenger app for talks, but even so, the growth of messaging apps is clearly evident in other platforms too – WhatsApp, also Facebook-owned, now has more than a billion monthly active users, while the growth of Snapchat, which is also, essentially, a direct messaging app, has been well-documented.

Underlining this, at their latest F8 developer conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that Facebook’s now processing around sixty billion messages per day across their messaging platforms – three times more than global SMS volume was at its peak.

This, of course, is why Facebook’s looking to evolve their eCommerce options for Messenger, with the introduction of bots and implements to help brands better connect with their audiences via the communication methods they’re already using. Messaging is a big concentrate for the future of Facebook, and the data suggests that we’re only going to see messaging use proceed to grow.

And now, Google’s looking to get in on the act.

Not to be outdone by Zuck and Co., Google has today announced the launch of their own messaging and movie talk options – Allo and Duo. Both Allo and Duo suggest a range of fresh functionalities, and they look very slick, but will they suggest enough to get users to switch across from the networks where they’ve already got established groups and connections?

Intelligent Conversation

Very first up, there’s Allo, Google’s fresh ‘smart messaging’ app. Allo’s concentrate is direct connection, similar to Facebook Messenger, with a range of AI-fuelled and Google enhanced features to make it stand out from the pack – here’s how it works.

The basic interface of Allo is very familiar – Google’s deliberately attempted to keep the interface basic to put more concentrate on the content. Allo also has a range of cool features to keep users engaged – things like a ‘Whisper and Shout’ slider (as shown in the GIF above) which enables you to quickly re-size your text, dependent on what you want to communicate.

But the real magic of Allo lies in its AI and integrated Google search capabilities.

In similar style to Facebook’s ‘M’, Allo’s hooked into Google’s Skill Graph, which means you can ask it questions and conduct searches for contextual info in-stream.

“You can talk one-on-one with the assistant, or call on Google in a group talk with friends. Either way, you no longer have to leap inbetween apps to do things like book a dinner reservation with friends, get up-to-date sports scores, lodge a bet, or play a game. The assistant in Allo lets you bring things like Search, Maps, YouTube and Translate to all your conversations, so that you and your friends can use Google together.”

Google’s also built in advanced natural language recognition capabilities, as well as the capacity for the system to ‘learn’ how you speak. In the case of the former, Allo, Google says:

“. understands your world, so you can ask for things like your agenda for the day, details of your flight and hotel, or photos from your last excursion. And since it understands natural language patterns, you can just talk like yourself and it’ll understand what you’re telling. For example, "Is my flight delayed?" will come back information about your flight status.”

While in regards to learning how you communicate, Allo will enable users to reply to messages “without typing a single word”. How? Allo has a Brainy Reply system that learns your most common responses and will then provide you with quick-tap suggestions in your own communication style. You then just click on the desired response and send it through.

It seems somewhat formulaic – and no one wants to feel that they’re that predictable or repetitive – but based on the example provided in the below GIF, you can see that it could come in handy, particularly when communicating on the go.

Did you notice the other key element in that sequence? Allo also has an in-built photo recognition system which will suggest possible responses based on picture content.

The functionality, if it works as sleekly as displayed, is both epic and a little weird. When you see those responses going back and forward, it’s not that hard to imagine a reality where machines will learn us, our schedules and our preferences, so well that we might not even need to interact at all. Think about it, if Allo was to learn your common responses to each person – who you were more likely to string up out with, how you talk to each other – it could, theoretically, simulate an entire conversation on your behalf, then just send you a reminder of when you have to go meet them to catch up. Weird, but going on this example, it may not that far eliminated from what’s possible.

Or, maybe, you could just use it to automate your responses to that friend who posts a few too many pictures of their cat, but to whom you don’t want to emerge rude by not commenting on each.

Allo will also have an incognito mode with end-to-end encryption (like WhatsApp) and discreet notifications.

And in case you’re wondering, the name Allo comes from the app’s capability to understand how you talk – for example, are you more a ‘hello’ or an ‘allo’ person?

Visual Connection

Google’s other fresh connective app is called Duo, a one-to-one movie calling app which has been built to supply optimal practices across varying connections. Duo is sleek looking and, as with Allo, is introduced with minimal distractions to help you stay focused on the content.

Duo movie calls are introduced in HD (up to 720p) and, as noted, the system’s built to operate well on poor quality connections, enabling more people to use the service (and reducing annoying drop-outs).

One of the coolest features of Duo is what Google’s calling ‘Knock Knock’, which you can see in the above movie. With ‘Knock Knock’, call receivers are shown a live movie preview of the caller before they pick up – the call is muted but you can see what the other person is doing. You then just click on the reaction button to interact.

The capacity to provide a visual reference point before a movie call could be a big draw, as it gives users a entire fresh context to the connection – as highlighted in the movie, an photo of a fresh picture your daughter has drawn might be enough to get you to pick up in the midst of a busy day. You can also imagine such functionality could be useful in case of an emergency – if you’re busy and you get a call, and you’re not sure whether you absolutely need to pick up or not, the visual reference might help guide your choice and ensure you don’t miss anything significant.

At very first glance, the fresh movie features reminded me of Snapchat’s latest talk update, within which users will have the option of either watching an incoming movie talk or joining.

It’s not fairly the same – Snapchat’s movie won’t showcase up on your lock screen – but like Duo and Allo, Snapchat’s update introduced a range of interesting messaging options in order to keep up with the growing user trend towards direct connection. The advantage Snapchat has in this regard is they already have users on their app, people are already interacting via Snap anyway, so introducing fresh features is just another way to keep them on-platform. With Duo and Allo, Google needs to win people over and get them away from the applications that they’re already familiar with, and have their friendship groups on.

And that’s going to pose their largest challenge.

Innovation and Differentiation

Winning over users actually poses the largest challenge for any fresh app or social network. Those that have succeeded in social media, and messaging more widely, have suggested key points of differentiation. This was the core problem faced by fresh players like Peach or Ello, for example – while both those social apps are functional and have gone on to establish their own, dedicated, communities, they’ve failed to get to a level of critical mass because they’re simply not different enough to trigger a mass-migration.

Snapchat’s the shining example of this – when Snapchat burst onto the scene it suggested something that was both being sought and was not available elsewhere, in disappearing messages. Snapchat also arrived at just the right time when user angst about Facebook’s algorithms was ramping up (and the platform was becoming so mainstream that everyone, from your Mom to your Grandma, was signing on). Snapchat expanded upon this by focusing on the needs and wants of their user community, adding in fresh, industry-leading features like filters and lenses – updates that have since been copied by the thicker players. But the key element in Snapchat’s success has unmistakably been differentiation. The practice you have on Snapchat can’t be re-created anywhere else. This is what’s fuelled the app’s continued growth.

Ello suggested an ad-free alternative to Facebook – but people don’t necessarily want an alternative, they just want Facebook with fewer ads. That element, in itself, wasn’t enough to inspire a significant amount of users to budge across – and the level of ‘inspiration’ required on this front is getting fatter all the time as people integrate platforms like Facebook and Messenger into their everyday lives, building online communities of people familiar with the workings and processes of each app. As that group familiarity solidifies, it makes it firmer and tighter for people to make a shift. Because you have to commence all over again, you have to get all your friends across.

If you’re going to go to all that effort, there needs to be a good reason why.

And this is where Google’s fresh apps may fight. While they no doubt look exceptional, and there’s some cool fresh features to test and use, will they be enough to get users away from Messenger?

Google Skill Graph integration is awesome, but is it something that you just have to have?

Of course, the proof will come once the fresh apps are live and people get a chance to test them out, but certainly, Google faces an uphill battle.

Just as Google+ wasn’t significantly different enough from Facebook to inspire large numbers of people to come across, Allo and Duo might not fairly be unique enough to spark a significant user shift.

But then again, as noted by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, 50% of Google searches are now being conducted via mobile, and growing. Maybe, providing people with an lighter, more natural way to integrate Google search into their interactions will be enough to motivate a switch.

Both Allo and Duo will be available this summer on Android and iOS.

Google Announces Fresh Messaging and Movie Talk Apps – Introducing Allo and Duo, Social Media Today

Без кейворда

Read highlights from Tuesday’s Twitter talk:

Google Announces Fresh Messaging and Movie Talk Apps – Introducing Allo and Duo

While social media more generally has become a thicker and more significant part of our everyday lives, it’s messaging apps that have indeed taken off in latest times.

Facebook Messenger’s the prime example, going from two hundred million users in two thousand fourteen to nine hundred million now. Of course, Messenger had an advantage, in that Facebook split Messenger from its main app and compelled users to download the Messenger app for talks, but even so, the growth of messaging apps is clearly evident in other platforms too – WhatsApp, also Facebook-owned, now has more than a billion monthly active users, while the growth of Snapchat, which is also, essentially, a direct messaging app, has been well-documented.

Underlining this, at their latest F8 developer conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that Facebook’s now processing around sixty billion messages per day across their messaging platforms – three times more than global SMS volume was at its peak.

This, of course, is why Facebook’s looking to evolve their eCommerce options for Messenger, with the introduction of bots and implements to help brands better connect with their audiences via the communication methods they’re already using. Messaging is a big concentrate for the future of Facebook, and the data suggests that we’re only going to see messaging use proceed to grow.

And now, Google’s looking to get in on the act.

Not to be outdone by Zuck and Co., Google has today announced the launch of their own messaging and movie talk options – Allo and Duo. Both Allo and Duo suggest a range of fresh functionalities, and they look very slick, but will they suggest enough to get users to switch across from the networks where they’ve already got established groups and connections?

Intelligent Conversation

Very first up, there’s Allo, Google’s fresh ‘smart messaging’ app. Allo’s concentrate is direct connection, similar to Facebook Messenger, with a range of AI-fuelled and Google enhanced features to make it stand out from the pack – here’s how it works.

The basic interface of Allo is very familiar – Google’s deliberately attempted to keep the interface basic to put more concentrate on the content. Allo also has a range of cool features to keep users engaged – things like a ‘Whisper and Shout’ slider (as shown in the GIF above) which enables you to quickly re-size your text, dependent on what you want to communicate.

But the real magic of Allo lies in its AI and integrated Google search capabilities.

In similar style to Facebook’s ‘M’, Allo’s hooked into Google’s Skill Graph, which means you can ask it questions and conduct searches for contextual info in-stream.

“You can talk one-on-one with the assistant, or call on Google in a group talk with friends. Either way, you no longer have to leap inbetween apps to do things like book a dinner reservation with friends, get up-to-date sports scores, lodge a bet, or play a game. The assistant in Allo lets you bring things like Search, Maps, YouTube and Translate to all your conversations, so that you and your friends can use Google together.”

Google’s also built in advanced natural language recognition capabilities, as well as the capacity for the system to ‘learn’ how you speak. In the case of the former, Allo, Google says:

“. understands your world, so you can ask for things like your agenda for the day, details of your flight and hotel, or photos from your last tour. And since it understands natural language patterns, you can just talk like yourself and it’ll understand what you’re telling. For example, "Is my flight delayed?" will come back information about your flight status.”

While in regards to learning how you communicate, Allo will enable users to reply to messages “without typing a single word”. How? Allo has a Brainy Reply system that learns your most common responses and will then provide you with quick-tap suggestions in your own communication style. You then just click on the desired response and send it through.

It seems somewhat formulaic – and no one wants to feel that they’re that predictable or repetitive – but based on the example provided in the below GIF, you can see that it could come in handy, particularly when communicating on the go.

Did you notice the other key element in that sequence? Allo also has an in-built photo recognition system which will suggest possible responses based on pic content.

The functionality, if it works as slickly as displayed, is both amazing and a little weird. When you see those responses going back and forward, it’s not that hard to imagine a reality where machines will learn us, our schedules and our preferences, so well that we might not even need to interact at all. Think about it, if Allo was to learn your common responses to each person – who you were more likely to drape out with, how you talk to each other – it could, theoretically, simulate an entire conversation on your behalf, then just send you a reminder of when you have to go meet them to catch up. Weird, but going on this example, it may not that far eliminated from what’s possible.

Or, maybe, you could just use it to automate your responses to that friend who posts a few too many pictures of their cat, but to whom you don’t want to show up rude by not commenting on each.

Allo will also have an incognito mode with end-to-end encryption (like WhatsApp) and discreet notifications.

And in case you’re wondering, the name Allo comes from the app’s capability to understand how you talk – for example, are you more a ‘hello’ or an ‘allo’ person?

Visual Connection

Google’s other fresh connective app is called Duo, a one-to-one movie calling app which has been built to produce optimal practices across varying connections. Duo is sleek looking and, as with Allo, is introduced with minimal distractions to help you stay focused on the content.

Duo movie calls are introduced in HD (up to 720p) and, as noted, the system’s built to operate well on poor quality connections, enabling more people to use the service (and reducing annoying drop-outs).

One of the coolest features of Duo is what Google’s calling ‘Knock Knock’, which you can see in the above movie. With ‘Knock Knock’, call receivers are shown a live movie preview of the caller before they pick up – the call is muted but you can see what the other person is doing. You then just click on the reaction button to interact.

The capacity to provide a visual reference point before a movie call could be a big draw, as it gives users a entire fresh context to the connection – as highlighted in the movie, an pic of a fresh picture your daughter has drawn might be enough to get you to pick up in the midst of a busy day. You can also imagine such functionality could be useful in case of an emergency – if you’re busy and you get a call, and you’re not sure whether you absolutely need to pick up or not, the visual reference might help guide your choice and ensure you don’t miss anything significant.

At very first glance, the fresh movie features reminded me of Snapchat’s latest talk update, within which users will have the option of either watching an incoming movie talk or joining.

It’s not fairly the same – Snapchat’s movie won’t demonstrate up on your lock screen – but like Duo and Allo, Snapchat’s update introduced a range of interesting messaging options in order to keep up with the growing user trend towards direct connection. The advantage Snapchat has in this regard is they already have users on their app, people are already interacting via Snap anyway, so introducing fresh features is just another way to keep them on-platform. With Duo and Allo, Google needs to win people over and get them away from the applications that they’re already familiar with, and have their friendship groups on.

And that’s going to pose their thickest challenge.

Innovation and Differentiation

Winning over users actually poses the fattest challenge for any fresh app or social network. Those that have succeeded in social media, and messaging more widely, have suggested key points of differentiation. This was the core problem faced by fresh players like Peach or Ello, for example – while both those social apps are functional and have gone on to establish their own, dedicated, communities, they’ve failed to get to a level of critical mass because they’re simply not different enough to trigger a mass-migration.

Snapchat’s the shining example of this – when Snapchat burst onto the scene it suggested something that was both being sought and was not available elsewhere, in disappearing messages. Snapchat also arrived at just the right time when user angst about Facebook’s algorithms was ramping up (and the platform was becoming so mainstream that everyone, from your Mom to your Grandma, was signing on). Snapchat expanded upon this by focusing on the needs and wants of their user community, adding in fresh, industry-leading features like filters and lenses – updates that have since been copied by the thicker players. But the key element in Snapchat’s success has unmistakably been differentiation. The practice you have on Snapchat can’t be re-created anywhere else. This is what’s fuelled the app’s continued growth.

Ello suggested an ad-free alternative to Facebook – but people don’t necessarily want an alternative, they just want Facebook with fewer ads. That element, in itself, wasn’t enough to inspire a significant amount of users to budge across – and the level of ‘inspiration’ required on this front is getting thicker all the time as people integrate platforms like Facebook and Messenger into their everyday lives, building online communities of people familiar with the workings and processes of each app. As that group familiarity solidifies, it makes it firmer and tighter for people to make a shift. Because you have to commence all over again, you have to get all your friends across.

If you’re going to go to all that effort, there needs to be a good reason why.

And this is where Google’s fresh apps may fight. While they no doubt look incredible, and there’s some cool fresh features to test and use, will they be enough to get users away from Messenger?

Google Skill Graph integration is awesome, but is it something that you just have to have?

Of course, the proof will come once the fresh apps are live and people get a chance to test them out, but undoubtedly, Google faces an uphill battle.

Just as Google+ wasn’t significantly different enough from Facebook to inspire large numbers of people to come across, Allo and Duo might not fairly be unique enough to spark a significant user shift.

But then again, as noted by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, 50% of Google searches are now being conducted via mobile, and growing. Maybe, providing people with an lighter, more natural way to integrate Google search into their interactions will be enough to motivate a switch.

Both Allo and Duo will be available this summer on Android and iOS.

Google Announces Fresh Messaging and Movie Talk Apps – Introducing Allo and Duo, Social Media Today

Без кейворда

Read highlights from Tuesday’s Twitter talk:

Google Announces Fresh Messaging and Movie Talk Apps – Introducing Allo and Duo

While social media more generally has become a fatter and more significant part of our everyday lives, it’s messaging apps that have indeed taken off in latest times.

Facebook Messenger’s the prime example, going from two hundred million users in two thousand fourteen to nine hundred million now. Of course, Messenger had an advantage, in that Facebook split Messenger from its main app and compelled users to download the Messenger app for talks, but even so, the growth of messaging apps is clearly evident in other platforms too – WhatsApp, also Facebook-owned, now has more than a billion monthly active users, while the growth of Snapchat, which is also, essentially, a direct messaging app, has been well-documented.

Underlining this, at their latest F8 developer conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that Facebook’s now processing around sixty billion messages per day across their messaging platforms – three times more than global SMS volume was at its peak.

This, of course, is why Facebook’s looking to evolve their eCommerce options for Messenger, with the introduction of bots and contraptions to help brands better connect with their audiences via the communication methods they’re already using. Messaging is a big concentrate for the future of Facebook, and the data suggests that we’re only going to see messaging use proceed to grow.

And now, Google’s looking to get in on the act.

Not to be outdone by Zuck and Co., Google has today announced the launch of their own messaging and movie talk options – Allo and Duo. Both Allo and Duo suggest a range of fresh functionalities, and they look very slick, but will they suggest enough to get users to switch across from the networks where they’ve already got established groups and connections?

Intelligent Conversation

Very first up, there’s Allo, Google’s fresh ‘smart messaging’ app. Allo’s concentrate is direct connection, similar to Facebook Messenger, with a range of AI-fuelled and Google enhanced features to make it stand out from the pack – here’s how it works.

The basic interface of Allo is very familiar – Google’s deliberately attempted to keep the interface basic to put more concentrate on the content. Allo also has a range of cool features to keep users engaged – things like a ‘Whisper and Shout’ slider (as shown in the GIF above) which enables you to quickly re-size your text, dependent on what you want to communicate.

But the real magic of Allo lies in its AI and integrated Google search capabilities.

In similar style to Facebook’s ‘M’, Allo’s hooked into Google’s Skill Graph, which means you can ask it questions and conduct searches for contextual info in-stream.

“You can talk one-on-one with the assistant, or call on Google in a group talk with friends. Either way, you no longer have to hop inbetween apps to do things like book a dinner reservation with friends, get up-to-date sports scores, lodge a bet, or play a game. The assistant in Allo lets you bring things like Search, Maps, YouTube and Translate to all your conversations, so that you and your friends can use Google together.”

Google’s also built in advanced natural language recognition capabilities, as well as the capacity for the system to ‘learn’ how you speak. In the case of the former, Allo, Google says:

“. understands your world, so you can ask for things like your agenda for the day, details of your flight and hotel, or photos from your last excursion. And since it understands natural language patterns, you can just talk like yourself and it’ll understand what you’re telling. For example, "Is my flight delayed?" will come back information about your flight status.”

While in regards to learning how you communicate, Allo will enable users to reply to messages “without typing a single word”. How? Allo has a Clever Reply system that learns your most common responses and will then provide you with quick-tap suggestions in your own communication style. You then just click on the desired response and send it through.

It seems somewhat formulaic – and no one wants to feel that they’re that predictable or repetitive – but based on the example provided in the below GIF, you can see that it could come in handy, particularly when communicating on the go.

Did you notice the other key element in that sequence? Allo also has an in-built photo recognition system which will suggest possible responses based on photo content.

The functionality, if it works as sleekly as displayed, is both astounding and a little weird. When you see those responses going back and forward, it’s not that hard to imagine a reality where machines will learn us, our schedules and our preferences, so well that we might not even need to interact at all. Think about it, if Allo was to learn your common responses to each person – who you were more likely to string up out with, how you talk to each other – it could, theoretically, simulate an entire conversation on your behalf, then just send you a reminder of when you have to go meet them to catch up. Weird, but going on this example, it may not that far eliminated from what’s possible.

Or, maybe, you could just use it to automate your responses to that friend who posts a few too many pictures of their cat, but to whom you don’t want to emerge rude by not commenting on each.

Allo will also have an incognito mode with end-to-end encryption (like WhatsApp) and discreet notifications.

And in case you’re wondering, the name Allo comes from the app’s capability to understand how you talk – for example, are you more a ‘hello’ or an ‘allo’ person?

Visual Connection

Google’s other fresh connective app is called Duo, a one-to-one movie calling app which has been built to supply optimal practices across varying connections. Duo is sleek looking and, as with Allo, is introduced with minimal distractions to help you stay focused on the content.

Duo movie calls are introduced in HD (up to 720p) and, as noted, the system’s built to operate well on poor quality connections, enabling more people to use the service (and reducing annoying drop-outs).

One of the coolest features of Duo is what Google’s calling ‘Knock Knock’, which you can see in the above movie. With ‘Knock Knock’, call receivers are shown a live movie preview of the caller before they pick up – the call is muted but you can see what the other person is doing. You then just click on the reaction button to interact.

The capacity to provide a visual reference point before a movie call could be a big draw, as it gives users a entire fresh context to the connection – as highlighted in the movie, an picture of a fresh picture your daughter has drawn might be enough to get you to pick up in the midst of a busy day. You can also imagine such functionality could be useful in case of an emergency – if you’re busy and you get a call, and you’re not sure whether you absolutely need to pick up or not, the visual reference might help guide your choice and ensure you don’t miss anything significant.

At very first glance, the fresh movie features reminded me of Snapchat’s latest talk update, within which users will have the option of either watching an incoming movie talk or joining.

It’s not fairly the same – Snapchat’s movie won’t display up on your lock screen – but like Duo and Allo, Snapchat’s update introduced a range of interesting messaging options in order to keep up with the growing user trend towards direct connection. The advantage Snapchat has in this regard is they already have users on their app, people are already interacting via Snap anyway, so introducing fresh features is just another way to keep them on-platform. With Duo and Allo, Google needs to win people over and get them away from the applications that they’re already familiar with, and have their friendship groups on.

And that’s going to pose their largest challenge.

Innovation and Differentiation

Winning over users actually poses the thickest challenge for any fresh app or social network. Those that have succeeded in social media, and messaging more widely, have suggested key points of differentiation. This was the core problem faced by fresh players like Peach or Ello, for example – while both those social apps are functional and have gone on to establish their own, dedicated, communities, they’ve failed to get to a level of critical mass because they’re simply not different enough to trigger a mass-migration.

Snapchat’s the shining example of this – when Snapchat burst onto the scene it suggested something that was both being sought and was not available elsewhere, in disappearing messages. Snapchat also arrived at just the right time when user angst about Facebook’s algorithms was ramping up (and the platform was becoming so mainstream that everyone, from your Mom to your Grandma, was signing on). Snapchat expanded upon this by focusing on the needs and wants of their user community, adding in fresh, industry-leading features like filters and lenses – updates that have since been copied by the thicker players. But the key element in Snapchat’s success has unmistakably been differentiation. The practice you have on Snapchat can’t be re-created anywhere else. This is what’s fuelled the app’s continued growth.

Ello suggested an ad-free alternative to Facebook – but people don’t necessarily want an alternative, they just want Facebook with fewer ads. That element, in itself, wasn’t enough to inspire a significant amount of users to budge across – and the level of ‘inspiration’ required on this front is getting thicker all the time as people integrate platforms like Facebook and Messenger into their everyday lives, building online communities of people familiar with the workings and processes of each app. As that group familiarity solidifies, it makes it stiffer and firmer for people to make a shift. Because you have to embark all over again, you have to get all your friends across.

If you’re going to go to all that effort, there needs to be a good reason why.

And this is where Google’s fresh apps may fight. While they no doubt look astounding, and there’s some cool fresh features to test and use, will they be enough to get users away from Messenger?

Google Skill Graph integration is awesome, but is it something that you just have to have?

Of course, the proof will come once the fresh apps are live and people get a chance to test them out, but undoubtedly, Google faces an uphill battle.

Just as Google+ wasn’t significantly different enough from Facebook to inspire large numbers of people to come across, Allo and Duo might not fairly be unique enough to spark a significant user shift.

But then again, as noted by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, 50% of Google searches are now being conducted via mobile, and growing. Maybe, providing people with an lighter, more natural way to integrate Google search into their interactions will be enough to motivate a switch.

Both Allo and Duo will be available this summer on Android and iOS.

Google Announces Fresh Messaging and Movie Talk Apps – Introducing Allo and Duo, Social Media Today

Без кейворда

Read highlights from Tuesday’s Twitter talk:

Google Announces Fresh Messaging and Movie Talk Apps – Introducing Allo and Duo

While social media more generally has become a fatter and more significant part of our everyday lives, it’s messaging apps that have indeed taken off in latest times.

Facebook Messenger’s the prime example, going from two hundred million users in two thousand fourteen to nine hundred million now. Of course, Messenger had an advantage, in that Facebook split Messenger from its main app and compelled users to download the Messenger app for talks, but even so, the growth of messaging apps is clearly evident in other platforms too – WhatsApp, also Facebook-owned, now has more than a billion monthly active users, while the growth of Snapchat, which is also, essentially, a direct messaging app, has been well-documented.

Underlining this, at their latest F8 developer conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that Facebook’s now processing around sixty billion messages per day across their messaging platforms – three times more than global SMS volume was at its peak.

This, of course, is why Facebook’s looking to evolve their eCommerce options for Messenger, with the introduction of bots and contraptions to help brands better connect with their audiences via the communication methods they’re already using. Messaging is a big concentrate for the future of Facebook, and the data suggests that we’re only going to see messaging use proceed to grow.

And now, Google’s looking to get in on the act.

Not to be outdone by Zuck and Co., Google has today announced the launch of their own messaging and movie talk options – Allo and Duo. Both Allo and Duo suggest a range of fresh functionalities, and they look very slick, but will they suggest enough to get users to switch across from the networks where they’ve already got established groups and connections?

Intelligent Conversation

Very first up, there’s Allo, Google’s fresh ‘smart messaging’ app. Allo’s concentrate is direct connection, similar to Facebook Messenger, with a range of AI-fuelled and Google enhanced features to make it stand out from the pack – here’s how it works.

The basic interface of Allo is very familiar – Google’s deliberately attempted to keep the interface basic to put more concentrate on the content. Allo also has a range of cool features to keep users engaged – things like a ‘Whisper and Shout’ slider (as shown in the GIF above) which enables you to quickly re-size your text, dependent on what you want to communicate.

But the real magic of Allo lies in its AI and integrated Google search capabilities.

In similar style to Facebook’s ‘M’, Allo’s hooked into Google’s Skill Graph, which means you can ask it questions and conduct searches for contextual info in-stream.

“You can talk one-on-one with the assistant, or call on Google in a group talk with friends. Either way, you no longer have to leap inbetween apps to do things like book a dinner reservation with friends, get up-to-date sports scores, lodge a bet, or play a game. The assistant in Allo lets you bring things like Search, Maps, YouTube and Translate to all your conversations, so that you and your friends can use Google together.”

Google’s also built in advanced natural language recognition capabilities, as well as the capacity for the system to ‘learn’ how you speak. In the case of the former, Allo, Google says:

“. understands your world, so you can ask for things like your agenda for the day, details of your flight and hotel, or photos from your last excursion. And since it understands natural language patterns, you can just talk like yourself and it’ll understand what you’re telling. For example, "Is my flight delayed?" will come back information about your flight status.”

While in regards to learning how you communicate, Allo will enable users to reply to messages “without typing a single word”. How? Allo has a Wise Reply system that learns your most common responses and will then provide you with quick-tap suggestions in your own communication style. You then just click on the desired response and send it through.

It seems somewhat formulaic – and no one wants to feel that they’re that predictable or repetitive – but based on the example provided in the below GIF, you can see that it could come in handy, particularly when communicating on the go.

Did you notice the other key element in that sequence? Allo also has an in-built photo recognition system which will suggest possible responses based on pic content.

The functionality, if it works as slickly as displayed, is both epic and a little bizarre. When you see those responses going back and forward, it’s not that hard to imagine a reality where machines will learn us, our schedules and our preferences, so well that we might not even need to interact at all. Think about it, if Allo was to learn your common responses to each person – who you were more likely to suspend out with, how you talk to each other – it could, theoretically, simulate an entire conversation on your behalf, then just send you a reminder of when you have to go meet them to catch up. Weird, but going on this example, it may not that far eliminated from what’s possible.

Or, maybe, you could just use it to automate your responses to that friend who posts a few too many pictures of their cat, but to whom you don’t want to show up rude by not commenting on each.

Allo will also have an incognito mode with end-to-end encryption (like WhatsApp) and discreet notifications.

And in case you’re wondering, the name Allo comes from the app’s capability to understand how you talk – for example, are you more a ‘hello’ or an ‘allo’ person?

Visual Connection

Google’s other fresh connective app is called Duo, a one-to-one movie calling app which has been built to supply optimal practices across varying connections. Duo is sleek looking and, as with Allo, is introduced with minimal distractions to help you stay focused on the content.

Duo movie calls are introduced in HD (up to 720p) and, as noted, the system’s built to operate well on poor quality connections, enabling more people to use the service (and reducing annoying drop-outs).

One of the coolest features of Duo is what Google’s calling ‘Knock Knock’, which you can see in the above movie. With ‘Knock Knock’, call receivers are shown a live movie preview of the caller before they pick up – the call is muted but you can see what the other person is doing. You then just click on the response button to interact.

The capacity to provide a visual reference point before a movie call could be a big draw, as it gives users a entire fresh context to the connection – as highlighted in the movie, an pic of a fresh picture your daughter has drawn might be enough to get you to pick up in the midst of a busy day. You can also imagine such functionality could be useful in case of an emergency – if you’re busy and you get a call, and you’re not sure whether you absolutely need to pick up or not, the visual reference might help guide your choice and ensure you don’t miss anything significant.

At very first glance, the fresh movie features reminded me of Snapchat’s latest talk update, within which users will have the option of either watching an incoming movie talk or joining.

It’s not fairly the same – Snapchat’s movie won’t display up on your lock screen – but like Duo and Allo, Snapchat’s update introduced a range of interesting messaging options in order to keep up with the growing user trend towards direct connection. The advantage Snapchat has in this regard is they already have users on their app, people are already interacting via Snap anyway, so introducing fresh features is just another way to keep them on-platform. With Duo and Allo, Google needs to win people over and get them away from the applications that they’re already familiar with, and have their friendship groups on.

And that’s going to pose their largest challenge.

Innovation and Differentiation

Winning over users actually poses the thickest challenge for any fresh app or social network. Those that have succeeded in social media, and messaging more widely, have suggested key points of differentiation. This was the core problem faced by fresh players like Peach or Ello, for example – while both those social apps are functional and have gone on to establish their own, dedicated, communities, they’ve failed to get to a level of critical mass because they’re simply not different enough to trigger a mass-migration.

Snapchat’s the shining example of this – when Snapchat burst onto the scene it suggested something that was both being sought and was not available elsewhere, in disappearing messages. Snapchat also arrived at just the right time when user angst about Facebook’s algorithms was ramping up (and the platform was becoming so mainstream that everyone, from your Mom to your Grandma, was signing on). Snapchat expanded upon this by focusing on the needs and wants of their user community, adding in fresh, industry-leading features like filters and lenses – updates that have since been copied by the fatter players. But the key element in Snapchat’s success has unmistakably been differentiation. The practice you have on Snapchat can’t be re-created anywhere else. This is what’s fuelled the app’s continued growth.

Ello suggested an ad-free alternative to Facebook – but people don’t necessarily want an alternative, they just want Facebook with fewer ads. That element, in itself, wasn’t enough to inspire a significant amount of users to budge across – and the level of ‘inspiration’ required on this front is getting fatter all the time as people integrate platforms like Facebook and Messenger into their everyday lives, building online communities of people familiar with the workings and processes of each app. As that group familiarity solidifies, it makes it stiffer and tighter for people to make a shift. Because you have to begin all over again, you have to get all your friends across.

If you’re going to go to all that effort, there needs to be a good reason why.

And this is where Google’s fresh apps may fight. While they no doubt look extraordinaire, and there’s some cool fresh features to test and use, will they be enough to get users away from Messenger?

Google Skill Graph integration is awesome, but is it something that you just have to have?

Of course, the proof will come once the fresh apps are live and people get a chance to test them out, but certainly, Google faces an uphill battle.

Just as Google+ wasn’t significantly different enough from Facebook to inspire large numbers of people to come across, Allo and Duo might not fairly be unique enough to spark a significant user shift.

But then again, as noted by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, 50% of Google searches are now being conducted via mobile, and growing. Maybe, providing people with an lighter, more natural way to integrate Google search into their interactions will be enough to motivate a switch.

Both Allo and Duo will be available this summer on Android and iOS.

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