Be it work or play, find the platform that works for you

Houseparty

Credit: Houseparty

1/8

Missing your weekly trivia nights now social gatherings are banned? Just download Houseparty.

After using this, you'll find it hard to go back to normal Facetimes or Skype. Not only does it have the usual video functions but you can gather your friends and play games. Houseparty has in-app games like 'Heads Up', 'Quick Draw' and trivia questions where you can compete against your friends with. (You can even play by yourself.)

 

Houseparty is available on iOS, Android, macOS and Chrome. 

Microsoft Teams

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2/8

Microsoft has come a long way since being known mainly for Microsoft word. Office 365 now has functions like OneDrive, email, and the tool that's steadily becoming everyone's best friend - Teams.

A chat-based collaboration tool, it allows colleagues to have video calls with up to 250 participants. Your whole team could join the meeting. Utilise cool features like document collaboration, one-on-one chat, team chat, and more.

Team also has shared workspace for the various applications in Microsoft Office including PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Planner and One Note. It's never been easier to work online and start on multiple projects while you're at it.

You need an account with Office 365.

Zoom has risen to the occasion since this pandemic has forced us all into our homes and onto our laptops all across the world. In America, the United Kingdom and even all the way to our local university classrooms, Zoom has become the go-to for hosting lessons online.

It provides a remote conferencing service that combines video conferencing, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration. Teachers have found it useful to conduct lessons on it because of its easy-to-use functions and ability to share documents easily. Similarly, meetings are held on Zoom on a daily basis, clearly shown with Zoom gaining over 2.22 million users in the first months of 2020.

For an added feature, pretend you're outside by customising your background to be anything you dream of!

Make sure to check if Zoom is available in your country here.

 

Google Hangouts

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4/8

You'll be hardpressed to find someone who hasn't used the most famous search engine, Google. Once you own a Gmail account, Google Hangouts is made available to you.

Either invite your friends or colleagues via email or an invitation link, up to 150 participants are allowed although the video screen is only limited to 25. It's the easiest way to set up a conference call with all the emails already at your fingertips.

Dubbed as a communications platform, instant messaging and sending of documents is made easier too. Since it's all based on google, using google drive and all of the chrome extensions while on hangout makes everything so simple.

You need a Gmail account.

GoToMeeting

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5/8

Made for businesses and collaborations, every function is created with what each user would need. There are different types of calls you could have on GoToMeeting depending on what you'd like to do.

From 'One-Click Meetings' where you can easily host or join video calls, to 'Webinars' where your online events can be managed better, even providing you with analytics and transcripts, there's something for every business.

Recent upgrades have even allowed calls to be created simply by instructing Siri and automatic Cloud recording so you never miss out information on important meetings. A plugin for Office 365 is also available.

Check it out here.

Slack

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6/8

Your company might already be using Slack as a means to communicate easily when in the office, but did you know that Slack is capable of supporting your work at home too?

It is essentially a chat room designed to replace email as your primary method of communication and sharing. You can organise conversations by topic, project, team and basically any way you like.

Sharing your documents and work is made easier as Slack integrates all the other applications you might find yourself working on like Google Drive, DropBox, SalesForce and more.

You can even have video conferences and meetings over Slack. So you're in luck if your company already utilises Slack on the day to day, staying home will be a breeze.

Check out Slack here.

Big Blue Botton

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7/8

Created mainly for online learning and for education, Big Blue Button is a web conferencing system that features whiteboard capability.

Be it meeting your friends online or having business calls, you might want to look into Big Blue Button as an alternative to video calling should the other platforms have high traffic. As a free open-source tool, the add-ons and integration with other apps make it easier for use and uploading of documents and important information.

Check out Big Blue Button here.

BlueJeans

Credit: BlueJeans

8/8

A full-featured web conferencing app that has cloud-based meetings and large interactive meetings that are easy to use, secure and scalable all at the same time. Calling itself the 'platform for modern work', join meetings with just a simple click and schedule in important calls into a calendar so you'll never forget.

Bluejeans uses a system of meetings, rooms and events to enable video meetings anywhere. Using any browser, you're able to join a meeting without having to configure or create an account anywhere. From screen sharing, polling, Q&A, AI and even voice recognition, having meetings are made simple.

Check out BlueJeans here and try it out for yourself with their free trial.