Google+: Will it do for live video what YouTube did for recorded video?

By now it’ll come as absolutely no surprise that Google has gone all in on Google+, it’s clearly a major part of the company’s future roadmap. We know that with the evolution of every new feature on Google+, it’s one more step in the search engine giants plans to allow the don’t-call-it-a-social-service to dominate the social world.

Steve Grove, Google+ executive recently spoke to Indian media and a choice quote stuck out to me in a major way. Grove, on top of many other beliefs about the Google+ roadmap believes that “Google+ could do for live video, what YouTube did for recorded video.” That’s a huge, huge challenge and yet, if there was any company better placed to challenge Google for live video I can’t think of it. Skype, for all its popularity doesn’t have the reach the combined resources of Google+ and YouTube have for video.

When asked about where Google+ goes development wise, Grove responded that there would be “big developments in photos in 2014.” Along with that, we can also expect “Another big change to be Hangouts…it is going to be really big.” Hangouts has already taken the tech world by storm and is now the default service for many tech-related webcasts. With few competitors in the market that have the range and scope of Google, Grove’s comments are almost inevitable…Hangouts is clearly where the company is placing its video future.

How do you see social media, and Google+, developing?

Google+ already has a lot of great features, so for example, on photos, which is a very big focus area for us, you’ve got auto-enhance, and auto-correction, and even an automatic highlight reel, so you don’t have to spend all your time curating the pictures you took. We’re using an algorithm to figure out, okay, these are the pictures you want to see, and we’re saving your time, so you can enjoy your content.

And while I can’t tell you what exactly, I can tell you there are going to be big developments in photos in 2014. Another big change is going to be Hangouts—it’s a powerful video platform, and we’re seeing its broadcast features develop now. It is going to be really big.

But at the centre of our strategy right now, there’s mobile, it’s very important, especially for photos. It’s also going to create a network future with people uploading live videos from their phones. Google+ could do for live video, what YouTube did for recorded video.