Now things are going to get really interesting! Google announced a shiny API which will allow developers to create collaborative apps for G+ Hangouts.

According to the Google+ Platform website, this API will enable developers to “build games where you can see everyone’s reactions or use your whole body to communicate, collaborate face-to-face-to-face in real-time, or connect with family and friends in new ways.”

I’m really excited about that. APIs have enabled developers to create innovative and really cool and epically useful tools for end users. I can only imagine the level of face-to-face interactivity that an API for Hangouts can form.

You even get a Hangout button to include on your website that automatically starts a Hangout using your app.

This is a very big game changer

Some tv news outlets have already been experimenting with Hangouts:

As a podcaster, this immediately brings to mind a live studio audience. Those in your Hangout and, say, a twitter back channel.

My friend and fellow podcaster, Dr. Vibe and I immediately jumped on trying things out as soon as we heard On Air was available to everyone.

So how does it work?

Naturally, you’ll need to have a YouTube account. For branded pages, I recommend a separate YouTube account. Please note that in order to have a recording of your hangout, you’ll need to verify your YouTube account via SMS, a one-time process.

When you start a hangout, you’ll see a new option allowing you to “Enable Hangouts On Air”.

Click it and once your Hangout window appears, you’ll notice something new at the top. Broadcast URLs for you to share and code to embed on the left of a big, red button to start the broadcast.

Users get an eye catching notice before entering a Hangout that’s being broadcast. Note that users need to explicitly agree before being able to join. Nice touch, Google!

Curiously, we were able to broadcast our Hangout via the embed link on Dr. Vibe’s website without pressing the Start Broadcast button. Mind you, his site is hosted on wordpress.com and the page was in draft mode. We didn’t have a chance to test further to see if this is a bug or a very thoughtful Ux feature by Google.

I can’t wait to get started with my own Hangouts On Air for Stutter Social and beyond!

Enticed to give a Hangout a try? With six months of Hangout participating and host experience with Stutter Social under my belt, I’m sharing my best practices of hanging out.

1. Turn off TVs, radios and other noise makers in the room

Google engineers did a great job at filtering out background noise coming from each Hangout participant. However, it can’t filter out the tv in the background, other people in the room and those police sirens blaring through your window. As a curtesy to your Hangout mates, please ensure you’re in a quiet room.

2. Adjust yourself before entering the hangout

We first see our own video when we are about to enter a hangout. This way, we can adjust our hair and such before entering.

However, some users forget to adjust the location of their laptops. If you’re on your laptop and are using your internal mic but need to move your laptop around, please do so before entering. Your laptop’s internal mic picks up the noise of the moving around that you don’t hear on your end. It’s really loud in our ears at our end since we’re using headsets or earbuds.

Mute your mic (and video would be good, too) if you need to adjust your laptop during a hangout.

3. Turn off your mic and/or video when speaking to a family member

We have the ability to turn our mics and web cams off right in G+ Hangouts. This is a good thing because microphones are pretty good at picking up distant sounds. This means that, yes, we can still hear your conversation going on in another room when you’ve stepped away from your computer. While we may not be able to make out words, it’s extremely distracting and uncomfortable to be able to listen in on private conversations.

If you need to leave for a while, consider leaving the Hangout and returning when you’re able to. G+ Hangouts have a maximum of ten participants and you can free up a space if your Hangout is full.

4. Not everyone has the same equipment as you

Keep in mind that not everyone is able to produce clear sound or video. Perhaps they are using their internal mic, or a very cheap microphone or a logging in at night in a dark room. Maybe they just can’t go to another room. If this happens to you, please consider making some changes as it will improve the Hangout experience for you and your Hangout mates.

5. Explain why you’re muting other participants

Sometimes people don’t realize there’s noise coming from their end. Or they have no control over eliminating it.

A feature of G+ Hangouts is all participants are able to mute each other (we are also able to unmute ourselves so don’t try to use it as a punishment feature) . If you need to mute someone, please explain to them why. And don’t forget to mention that hey can unmute themselves every time they speak.

6. People pop in and out of Hangouts

Don’t take it personally. It’s either a hardware issue on their end, their Internet access isn’t fast enough to handle everyone’s video streams or their schedule simply ran out.

People who keep popping in and out within a second or two are those with slower Internet speeds. Check out G+’s technical recommendations.

7. G+ page admins show up under the name of the G+ name

I am identified as Stutter Social as I host Stutter Social Hangouts started via the Stutter Social G+ page. In fact, everyone else listed as admins of the page are also identified as Stutter Social. This can get confusing in the text chat rooms. When this happens to you, be sure to identify who is doing the typing.

8. Speaking of text chat, first timers don’t see it

G+ Hangouts have a text chat feature. This is great for welcoming newcomers who arrived in the middle of someone speaking. It’s also great. For quick side conversations. Keep in mind that these side conversations can become quite distracting from the video conversations so try to keep them a a minimum. Remember, no matter what corporate life claims, humans were never made to multitask.

9. Get accustomed to repeating simple instructions

Participants may not even be aware of the text chat feature nor the button on the top left corner to open the room. Participants may not know how to adjust their settings. As people pop in and out of Hangouts, be patient as you need to explain (or hear someone else explain) how to work their way around the place.

Since G+ doesn’t have a private text chat feature (a good thing in my opinion), you can help trouble shoot offline or point them to a link or two. G+ has some great help pages for Hangouts.

10. Sometimes a user will not see another user’s video

Hangouts are still in beta so there are some bugs and knickknacks that still need working out. Remember, the Goole servers and your computer are trying to process all that video and audio filtering and syncing.

The problem could also be on your end so do make sure all is working on your end first. You wouldn’t want to miss out on the full Hangout experience assuming the fault rests with Google.

11. Be respectful of everyone

I really don’t need to mention this, however, we also have the ability to block someone in a G+ Hangout. Be aware that if only one person participating in a Hangout even accidentally blocks someone (it has happened), that someone won’t be able to come back in. Even if 8 out of the other 9 participants don’t have that someone blocked. So use this feature with great caution.

Especially since its so close to the mute button.

Even if you don’t have the need for “yet another” social network (seriously, G+ kicks Facebook any day. If only all my friends would jump ship), G+ Hangouts offer a great opportunity to connect with other people who share similar interests via video conferencing.

I feel this is a much more natural way that us humans were made to interact with each other. While nothing will never, ever beat meeting in person and it’s a welcomed change from forum trolls and text-on-screen lacking emotional context and tone.

Up to ten people can participate in a Hangout. And it doesn’t at all get confusing. You know when someone is done speaking and the Google user experience designers did a great job at making it easy for people not to speak over each other.

You have a main view area and small thumbnails of everyone in the Hangout. The thumbnails are video! Not a static image of someone on a beach or someone’s wedding photo.

The main view area simply shows you the video of whoever is currently speaking. It automatically switches to the next person who speaks.

It is such a seamless experience that a few times I forget I’m in front of a screen and I point to people or point my face towards someone’s thumbnail as if we were all sitting at a restaurant table!

And of course, being able to put an actual live face to Hangout participants makes everyone more approachable and easier to establish friendships.

How much does it cost to use this?

NOTHING! It’s totally FREE (hear that Skype?). And it’s ridiculously easy to use. Any G+ user can start a Hangout as well as a branded G+ page. The New York Times hosts panel discussions, several television media outlets use Hangouts during their broadcasts and – full disclosure – I’m the co-founder of Stutter Social, an online community turned organization which uses G+ Hangouts to create online support groups for people who stutter.

I’ve seen lists of prolific bloggers, professional organizations and musicians making use of Hangouts. Heck even cooking demos!

Hangouts perfected online collaboration

My Stutter Social team mates live all over the world. Naturally, we use Hangouts for our meetings. We’re able to collaborate on a document using Google Docs (now “Drive“) right in a Hangout. Instant collaboration by all members.

Other applications you can use include screensharing, drawing tools, SlideShare, YouTube, games and more.

So yeah, I’m definitely a fan(boy) of G+ Hangouts

Anyone with a gmail account automatically has a G+ account. Log into gmail, look at the top left corner in the black bar, see your name with a plus sign in front of it? Click it. You’re now in Google Plus.

Great interface, eh? My eyes love it and thank the designers profusely.

There are two ways to find Hangouts to try out. Click the Hangouts button on the left menu and on the right side you’ll see a list of all your contacts who are currently in a Hangout. Simply choose the Hangout you’d like to join.

The other way is via a nifty plug-in for Google Chrome named Hangout Canopy. It lists all the Hangouts currently going on.

You can even invite people into a Hangout by TELEPHONE. It’s free for U.S. and Canadian phone numbers.

You can also participate in Hangouts on your smartphones and tablets. We’ve had someone join us on Stutter Social while riding the bus home. Co-founder, David Resnick, connected via his iPhone to give a tour of a venue where he was about to play in a concert.

And this is only the beginning. The Google engineers have been working closely with users gathering feature wish lists, bug reports and even hanging out with us.

One particular feature I cannot wait for is Hangouts On Air. Currently in invite only exclusive beta, this gives us the option to broadcast our Hangouts on YouTube. This, my friends, will open up A LOT of opportunities.

edit: Google announced the public roll out of Hangouts On Air a day after I posted this! Woo hoo!

I can’t yet mention what I or my Stutter Social team have up our sleeves but watch this space!

I’ll talk about best practices when participating in a G+ Hangout in my next blog post.

Please stop it. Stop it now.

It’s beginning to feel like I’ve forgotten how to use my computer. The routine repeats itself every few days now. I fire up the browser to complete a quick task. Mouse in hand (or finger on mobile device), my automatic reflexes kick in and I unexpectedly stop in my tracks.

Wait.

What happened?

Where’s—?

Oh… there it is. Ok, they made a change.

So how do I…?

Do I click this?

Hey, what did I just do? How do I undo that?

That’s how I ended up accidentally accepting the switch over to Google Drive and Facebook’s much over-hyped timeline feature.

Not only has my work been interrupted, I’m now distracted by figuring out if my other favourite, useful features have been changed.

What happened to letting users know beforehand that changes will be forthcoming?

Is it a drain on the network’s communicators if they spend some time drafting up communications?

Would issuing a communiqué each and every time there’s an update create fatigue in users?

Maybe they have made announcements but since there’s so much information overload these days that it’s easy to miss anything that isn’t overly major (1 billion dollars, really, Facebook? 1 billion?).

Or maybe Facebook’s bad Ux habits formed a new habit in everyone accepting the fact that “even though I hate the new Facebook, I’ll be used to it in a day”.

Perhaps all the negative tweets about a surprise change makes for free press.

Whatever it is, it’s like a telemarketer interrupting my dinner. Just let me work!

Anyhoo, I’m close to launching the interactive iPad optimized web app edition of my SuperSpud digital comics.

I thought I’d share a sneak preview of the three comics that will launch with the app. Particularly, their covers!

They are using Google products and services to record their military history and career. For example, using Google Voice to record their stories, Google Maps to plot out where their military careers have taken them, even using Google Docs to draw with family members while deployed. And many more ideas.

This is such an awesome, clever use of Google products and services that’s really making huge differences in lives.

Thanks Eric!

What makes a compelling story?

In my experience, the three most important elements in making a compelling story are A) a relatable protagonist (more on that in a sec) who has [B)] a clearly defined and emotionally-driven goal or goals as well as C) interesting situations and circumstances separating them from that goal. If we like our protagonist and understand what he/she wants, then we will root for them and want to watch the story unfold.

What are common mistakes people make in storytelling?

In moviemaking these days, one of the most common mistakes I see is the belief that you MUST stick to the three act structure, or the Hero’s Journey or the Save The Cat structure or some other book of story development. Knowing these structures and techniques is all well and good, (In fact, it’s downright recommended to deal with executives) but it should be remembered that they are just tools and not the end all be all. In the last 3 years, I have seen dozens of (usually big-budget) movies destroyed by trying too hard to adhere to some structure or another. Storytelling is not some science or logic puzzle – it’s just about telling a good story!

Another trap that’s really easy to fall into in storytelling is getting too ‘claustrophobic’: after months of working on the same story, you start to get bored. You start to get antsy. You start feeling like your whole story is stale and boring and you begin changing things just to make it different. Before too long you’ve chucked out everything that was good in the first place!

One reminder I always give myself is this: Remember why you like your story. Just because you’re bored of something after 6 months of it doesn’t mean it’s boring – that’s just part of the process!

Another easy mistake to make in storytelling is doing things because they’re ‘cool’ instead of because it makes the story better. It’s the syndrome that comes from someone saying “Wouldn’t it be cool if…?”

If you ever find yourself adding a moment or a character or a scene or anything because “Wouldn’t it be cool if…”, make sure to assess it and ask yourself “Is this really necessary?” Because, yes, it would be cool to have a car chase through the flea market, but why a car chase? Why the flea market? If you can find a way to relate the car chase to the rest of the story (and most importantly, the protagonist’s goal), then go right ahead! But if you’re just doing it because you think it would be cool.. well, it might not be the right fit for this movie!
Which leads me to my next point…

Don’t be afraid to cut scenes, characters or other elements! I know that you love that character. I know that you love that scene. But if it doesn’t seem like it’s working, maybe it’s not right for this movie. I can think of a half-dozen times that I’ve tried to keep a character in a story because I love writing him, but ultimately he holds the story back. Sometimes you just need to put a character on the shelf and wait until you find the right project.

What makes a character relatable?

Ahhh character relatability, that’s a funny and tricky subject.

Relatability is, as it says right in the word, how much you can relate to any given character. Now, this doesn’t mean that a relatable character is EXACTLY like someone in your audience. That’d be boring! For a character to be relatable, it needs one simple thing: A goal driven by a strong emotion or connection to another character.

It doesn’t matter if your character is a space pirate; if his goal is motivated by his love for his father or his desire to prove himself to the universe, your audience will be able to relate to him. Sure, they may not know what it’s like to be a space pirate or fly through the vacuum, but they’ll be able to relate to having a father or having someone they’re insecure around.

If you can find the emotional reasons driving your protagonist, the relatability will come from there. Oftentimes, the strongest characters are driven by strong central emotions: The desire to succeed, a thirst for adventure, a quest for knowledge, the belief that love will triumph over all, revenge…

If you can find an emotional drive (commonly called your character’s “engine”) that resonates with you it will do wonders for the relatability of your character.

A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Eric Stirpe is a screenwriter and filmmaker originally from Rhode Island now living and working in Los Angeles. By day, Eric works on the story team at Divide Nine Animation, where they are working on their first animated feature. Eric is also just finishing his first live-action screenplay, a comedy about a radio station in 1950s Canada, which is being produced by The Ben Proudfoot Co. and should go into production later this year.

Came across this cool video talking about the story behind the famous “Keep Calm And Carry On” posters from World War 2 Britain (not to mention a cool use of an old railway station!).

I had a brainstorm at the mention of King George VI‘s crown on the poster. I stutter and enjoyed The King’s Speech a lot. Thus, I decided to create my own Keep Calm parody (see below).

Keep Calm And Stammer On. Pretty much the motto of my podcast, Stuttering is Cool. The cyan colour is the colour chosen for stuttering awareness.

Create your own Keep Calm poster with the Keep Calm-O-Matic!

I was interviewed by The Globe and Mail to talk about my latest digital venture, Stutter Social, an online virtual support group using Google Plus Hangouts. Read more about it in this blog post.

Journalist, Wency Leung, did an excellent job at telling the Stutter Social story. And interviewed two Stutter Social regulars further raising awareness for reader about how socially awkward stuttering can be.

I’m so happy to be part of something that is helping people and is a feel-good social media story!