#googlegmail

Google's myriad messaging apps: Which are best for you?

Read my column: https://goo.gl/XfcdfV )

Is Google a good choice for communication? With the exception of email, Google is not considered a leader in person-to-person communication apps and services. Skype, owned by Microsoft, tops the video calling space. Facebook dominates social media. Slack leads business chat-room messaging. WhatsApp rules mobile messaging. And besides the big platforms from the big companies, hundreds of startups have created appealing and innovative communications apps and services.

Google lags for a variety of reasons. Among these are confusion and uncertainty -- confusion about which app to use, uncertainty about whether Google will terminate any given product.

Google offers 12 communications apps and services. Alphabetically, these are: Allo, Chat, Gmail, Google+, Groups, Hangouts, Inbox, Messenger, Duo, Project Fi, Spaces and Voice. If you look at the various communication actions you might want to take -- voice calls, video calls, email, text messaging and social posting -- Google has at least two offerings for each.

It's confusing. But there are great reasons to choose Google products for communicating.

Here's everything you need to know to understand, choose from, and make the best use of Google's many communications apps and services:

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3164407/mobile-apps/googles-myriad-messaging-apps-which-are-best-for-you.html