[Rant] “I won’t use Google Hangouts, until it adds an invisible mode!” – Me


Yeah, you read the title correct. Yeah yeah, I am a huge fan of Google and I have made fun of people who uses alternatives for Google’s products and services, like when someone uses Bing instead of Google Search, or Yahoo! Mail instead of GMail – the list goes on and on. But ever since the replacement of GTalk with Google Hangouts, I have stopped using it.

Why? I am glad that you asked. Well, here is the thing. I really like to be online in Google Hangouts, but the biggest problem is people come to talk… err… chat with me in it! You are always more than welcome to pass me “Instant Messages” in it, but if you wish to have long chit chats with me, I am not your guy. You see, I am not that talky and when I am online, I am always doing something productive – like scrolling through 9gag, and umm… well… you know what I mean.

I am sure I am not the only one who has done this. Back in the day, when we had GTalk, I was always in “Invisible Mode”. My friends knew I do that. So if anyone wanted to contact me, they could’ve just sent a message and see whether I’d respond. If I did, I was online, if I didn’t, I was either offline or didn’t want to talk to them. But it isn’t possible to hide the fact that you’re online in Hangouts.

Have you faced this trouble with Google Hangouts? What did you do about it?

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mapleveins/5446464200/in/photostream/ .


20 responses to “[Rant] “I won’t use Google Hangouts, until it adds an invisible mode!” – Me”

  1. I’ve never personally really been a fan of the hangouts myself. I do like the Google profile, and the network but never been much of a chatter myself either. As far as your concern about privacy, that is completely understandable, when I’m online, I like to just do my own thing too, and it’s difficult when people are bugging you and you’re trying to concentrate. I don’t however think this is enough of a reason to stop using it. The tools they offer have a lot of potential for businesses and being productive. I wouldn’t let one mishap stand in the way.

    • Thanks a lot for the comment Lauren. I have’t stopped using any other Google service, just this one. I tried to keep it on several times, but every time it ended up me engaging in unwanted conversations. 🙁

  2. completely understand bc im the same way, i dont want to chit chat bc im doing work, i dont understand not having invisible mode

  3. With hangouts you can easily find similar posts from other users. If your post is marked with hangout #SocialMedia just click on it and you will see another SocialMedia post(s)

  4. Ah, so that’s what google hangouts are, I’m glad that you’ve published a health warning. I don’t do webinars and I don’t ‘get’ webinars.
    To me social networking is a means to an end – it’s not an end in itself.

  5. I completely agree. I have configured both my work & personal accounts in hangouts. I hate when especially people at work see me online and start a chat late in the night. I used to be invisible on my work account from my mobile so I can respond if it is really urgent. I lost that luxury now. I ended up stopping to use hangouts with my work account. Thanks Google! :$

    • I am doing the same with my personal account Arun. May be Google removed the ability to stay hidden to increase the adoption and the usage rate of Google Hangouts; but from what I have heard and experienced, it’s only making things worse.

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