Google Rolling Out An App For Live Video Lessons From Experts Named Helpouts

Google is launching a new product it’s calling “Helpouts.” It’s a new website that allows users to get in touch with experts and pay them for “services” over video chat. Google is imagining that it will be used for things like cooking tips, home repair, guitar lessons, and even healthcare. The service is now live with a small set of partners, including Weight Watchers, Sephora, and One Medical. Google is vetting anybody that wants to offer Helpout services with a full background check and keeping the categories of services offered relatively short.

The video-chat services will be offered in a wide range of prices, from free with volunteers up to $20 per hour or more. Google says it has no intention of allowing “adult” content on Helpouts. Users will be able to rate the experts they work with and said experts will have a few tools to block users, should it come to that. For all of it, Google gets a 20 percent cut and is offering a money-back guarantee if things don’t work out.

The website for Hangouts looks very much like a one-off custom version of Google+, and even shares some of the same Hangouts on Air features that have been baked into that product. Each expert has a landing page where users can schedule a future Helpout or start one immediately. Users are identified with their public Google+ profiles, so each party knows who is calling, but nothing is posted publicly to Google+. If both parties agree, a Helpout chat can be saved for later review.

Some of those policies don’t apply to the health section of Helpouts, however, where Google says it applies slightly stricter rules surrounding a user’s identity and privacy. It also claims that any health-related Helpout will be HIPAA compliant.

Although it’s a small launch, Google VP of Engineering Udi Manber was bullish on Helpouts’ future. Likening current skepticism about Helpouts to how some felt about online shopping in the early days of the internet, Manber repeated over and over at a press event today that “in the end, convenience and efficiency always win.”

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