Have you ever wanted to have someone walk you through something? Online tutorials are great, but sometimes what you really need is someone to “look over your shoulder,” in a sense to teach you how something is done?
Google has just released a product called Helpouts that promises to do just that. For a fee, or sometimes for free, you can find someone who will walk you through something via their Google Hangouts feature.
Check out this video to get an idea:
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Here’s the official intro from Google:
[tentblogger-youtube K-VFC9AQM1k]
And here’s one that gives some nut and bolts about how it actually works:
[tentblogger-youtube ZmfDVHhTVt8]
As a tech geek, I confess that I’m really excited about it. There are different products out there to hire someone to do something for you online (I’ve used Odesk before), but what sets this apart is that you can hire someone to teach you.
Some real life possibilities that I’m interested in:
-Guitar lessons
-Learning how to adjust my water softener
-Occasional tech help
You can schedule an appointment with someone online, or you can browse their listings to see if anyone is available for live help.
What About For Ministry?
As a pastor, I think this is really interesting as well. Here’s a few ways that I think people and churches could offer some ministry related services for free:
1. How to build a resume. Or get a second opinion on a resume.
2. Help to answer Bible questions
3. Give a Bible study
I did a quick search on their site to see if I could find anything church related, but the closest I could get was this guy who is offering lessons on biblical Greek at a rate of $15 for one hour. Not bad, actually.
Get the full information for Helpouts here.
Question: So what are some ways you think churches or ministries could use this product? To leave a comment click here.
