Google Helpouts was an online collaboration service from
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
which launched in November 2013 and allowed users to share their expertise through live video and provide real-time help from their computers or mobile devices. As of April 20, 2015, Google closed Google Helpouts.
Operation
People offering help through Helpouts, called "providers," could be companies or individuals. Providers were required to be native English speakers and a resident of U.S., Canada, Ireland, U.K., Australia or New Zealand. They created and maintained listings that explained what they offered, their qualifications, prices, and schedules. Providers were required to pass Google's screening process to qualify.
Every listing had a link to the provider's Helpouts calendar. Once a Helpout was scheduled, it could automatically be added to users'
Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a time-management and scheduling calendar service developed by Google. It became available in beta release April 13, 2006, and in general release in July 2009, on the web and as mobile apps for the Android and iOS platforms.
...
, and users could choose whether they wish to be notified through email or SMS.
All payments were done through
Google Wallet
Google Wallet (or simply Wallet) is a digital wallet platform developed by Google. It is available for the Android, Wear OS, and Fitbit OS operating systems, and was announced on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. It began rollin ...
. Prices were set by the providers, based on either a per minute or per Helpout session. At the end of each Helpout, users were asked to write a review. Helpouts offered a money-back guarantee. If a user was not satisfied with a Helpout, the user could apply for a refund within 72 hours from the end of their session.
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
had a cancellation policy that stated that some providers may have a cancellation fee.
In those cases customers were required to call in 24 hours prior to the session to avoid the fee, which was either 50% of the fixed session price or five times the per-minute rate.
On April 20, 2015, Google officially shut down Helpouts stating that the service hadn't, "grown at the pace we had expected."
Categories
Helpouts categorizes help into the following categories:
*
Art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
&
Music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
*
Computers
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs ...
&
Electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
*
Cooking
Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...
*
Education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
&
Careers
The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways.
Definitions
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...
*
Fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
&
Beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
*
Fitness &
Nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ...
*
Health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
*
Home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
&
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...
Citations
References
"Google offers live video chats with experts through Helpouts service" ''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
''. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
"Google Helpouts Promises 'Real Help from Real People in Real Time' — for a Price" ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
''. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
"Google introduces Helpouts to connect experts with advice-seekers via video" ''
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
'' (October 31, 2013). Retrieved May 11, 2013.
"Google Helpouts will change the world (or not)" ''
Computerworld
''Computerworld'' (abbreviated as CW) is an ongoing decades old professional publication which in 2014 "went digital." Its audience is information technology (IT) and business technology professionals, and is available via a publication website ...
''. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
"Google launches Helpouts: paid live video chats with experts" ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
"Google Launches Helpouts, Paid Video Chats With Experts To Address Whatever Is Bothering You Right Now" TechCrunch
TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare.
In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...
(July 24, 2013). Retrieved May 11, 2013.
"Google Helpouts and Other News You Need to Know" Mashable
Mashable is a digital media platform, news website and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005.
History
Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2005. Early iterations of the site were a ...
(November 18, 2011). Retrieved May 11, 2013.
"Google Helpouts Offer One-On-One Expert Help" ReadWrite
ReadWrite (originally ReadWriteWeb or RWW) is a Web technology blog launched in 2003. RW covers Web 2.0 and Web technology in general, and provides industry news, reviews, and analysis. Founded by Richard MacManus, Technorati ranked ReadWriteWe ...
. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
"Google Helpouts Connects You With Experts via Video Chat" ''
Lifehacker
''Lifehacker'' is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on January 31, 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is currently owned by G/O Media. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including: Microsoft W ...
''. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
"Google Helpouts Is Here to Help You With Basically Anything" ''
Gizmodo
''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...
''. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
* {{cite web, url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/05/google_helpouts/ , title=Google Helpout live vids: Helping you help us help ourselves, says web giant , work=
The Register
''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...
, date=November 5, 2013
Collaborative software
Helpouts