New Google+ Features Can Pay Off for Lawyers

Google has announced several new features to its video chat platform Google+ Hangouts. These new features enhance an already useful tool for lawyers.

Some of the new features and updates to Hangouts include colorful notifications and a sidebar that consolidates key tools in one spot, writes Mashable.

The sidebar for tools like invites, chat, and apps will appear when you need it, and disappear when you don't. These new features will allow attorneys on Hangouts to focus on their clients without the clutter of tools and other icons.

The new sidebar also contains shortcuts to frequently used apps, which allows lawyers to better find and manage the apps they actually use.

As for the new color notifications, attorneys will have some sense of a notification without having to read it. Alerts will be highlighted in red, actions in blue, and announcements in grey, reports Mashable.

If you haven't already incorporated Google+ Hangouts into your practice, you should know that it is a videoconferencing tool similar to Skype. However, Google+ Hangouts offers many added benefits that can appeal to attorneys. For example:

• Google+ Hangouts allows users to talk to up to 10 people at once, which can be great for lawyer teleconferences and client calls.
• It has screenshare capabilities, so attorneys can show their screens to clients.
• The greatest part? It's all free.

Google+ Hangouts can act as a great equalizer allowing small law firms to have the same capabilities as their larger competitors.

FindLaw has even developed a Google+ page that features our content and allows us to stay in touch with those in our circles. It's been a great way to get news out to our growing circles of followers.

If you are interested in creating a greater Internet presence that incorporates Google+ and other social media tools, check out FindLaw's lawyer marketing services. Our expert consultants can help you reach some of the 800 million-plus social media users already out there.

Related Resources:

• Forget About Facebook, Protect Your Google Plus Privacy (FindLaw's Technologist)
• Google Plus for Business Can Further Market Your Law Firm (FindLaw's Strategist)
• Google+ + Law Firm Marketing = Increased Firm Income? (FindLaw's Strategist)