E-meetings are here to stay and recognising the fact that they can be quite isolating, Google is planning to make Meet more social by rolling out a feature known as in-meeting reactions. This feature allows users to send any out of nine reactions, such as a thumbs up, laughing emojis, hearts, and so on. These emojis will be displayed in the window and can be visible to everyone who is in the meeting. If multiple users send you a bunch of emojis, they will be displayed as a burst on the left side of your own screen.
There is a smile icon that will sit in the control bar once the feature is rolled out to everyone. You can hover on this bar, in order to see the options as well as the different skin tones that are available for the emojis. Google has referred to this as a non-disruptive way to engage and participate in meetings without interrupting the speaker,". The company has added that the emojis will come with "skin tones that best represent your identity."
Once the feature rolls out, Reactions will be turned on by default. However, you can easily turn it off in the Admin console. This feature will roll out on January 16th for the web version of Google Meet.
Apart from the in-meeting reactions, Google will also be rolling out 360-degree backgrounds. If you’re using your smartphone, you can insert 360-degree backgrounds that will move around as you do thanks to your device’s gyroscope in order to create a more immersive experience. Some of the backgrounds that will be available include an Oasis, sky, city, beach, and mountain temples. This will be available to consumers as well as paid users.