COVID-19: Social Distancing Increases Virtual Conferences And Web Meetings

The outbreak of the fast spreading coronavirus, COVID-19 and the introduction of the social distancing phenomenon has led to a significant rise in video-conferencing.

As the #StayHome #StaySafe continue to trend on twitter, the demand for soft wares to facilitate virtual conferences and web meetings to work from home is skyrocketing.

Many corporate bodies and governments have to grapple with bailing out entire system through the use of meeting or event apps.

The fact that, the social distancing is also becoming the standard for the next few months, many jobs have made the switch to telephone or video conferencing in lieu of meeting in an office.

Educators at all grade levels for teachers and students have also embraced the switch.

As people worldwide are advised to stay away from one another, the move to online video conferencing or web conferencing is indispensable.

What Is Web Conferencing?

A conference app, also known as an event app or meeting app, is a mobile app developed to help attendees and meeting planners manage their conference experience. A conference app can be a native app or web-based.

In general, web conferencing is made possible by Internet technologies, particularly on TCP/IP connections.

Applications for web conferencing include meetings, training events, lectures, or presentations from a web-connected computer to other web-connected computers.

Some Popular Meeting Or Work Apps

There are a variety of web conferencing software to work or organise meetings from a distance, they are available for Linux, macOS, and Windows platforms.

Many of these applications support the use of videoconferencing.
Some of these software are;

# Skype

It is a telecommunications application that specializes in providing video chat and voice calls between computers, tablets and mobile devices over the Internet. Skype also provides instant messaging services. Users may transmit text, video, audio and images. Skype allows video conference calls. It can take 1-50 persons. Skype business on the other hand take 1-1000 persons

# WebEx meeting

A WebEx meeting is an online meeting that allows you to virtually meet with other people, without leaving your home or office. WebEx meetings require a computer with Internet access and a separate phone line.

# Zoom

Zoom is a video conferencing software that helps users hold online meetings, training sessions, and webinars. It integrates virtual conference rooms, enterprise phone systems, and business group messaging into a single platform. Its features include collaboration tools and meeting recordings.

The online meeting app, Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing solutions for businesses
Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom Video Communications Inc., added more than $2 billion to his net worth this year as the coronavirus outbreak keeps persisting.

# Google Hangouts

It is a communication software product developed by Google. Originally a feature of Google+, Hangouts became a stand-alone product in 2013, when Google also began integrating features from Google+ Messenger and Google Talk into Hangouts.

Hangout and Skype work almost similarly. They look like WhatsApp. Then you can do a group call and add your contacts. There is also a possibility to share your screen.

Other online meeting apps amongst others are Google Meet, Microsoft Meet. GoToMeeting etc.

All these applications are all available on play store or can be downloaded from their website if you want to use a PC.

Benly Anchunda