Zoom allows you to connect with people online when face to face meetings aren't possible. This makes online communication seem much more human.
Due to the current situation, Zoom has become an essential tool for families, friends and businesses that want to keep in touch and continue their communication with minimal disruption.
Zoom is a video conferencing service you can use to meet with others online using the camera and audio functions on your computer, tablet or mobile phone.
A Zoom meeting refers to a video conferencing meeting that is hosted using Zoom.
Zoom's Main Features
Here are Zoom's main features for people who want to use it to chat to family and friends:
One on one meetings: You can host unlimited one on one meetings, which is included in the free plan. This will allow you to host video conferences of up to 40 minutes and up to 100 participants.
Screen sharing: Meet one on one or with larger groups and share your screen with them so they can see your own screen - e.g. you can look at photos and videos together.
How Does Zoom Work?
Zoom allows one to one chat sessions that can grow into group calls, training sessions and webinars for internal and external audiences, and global video meetings with up to 1,000 participants and as many as 49 on screen videos.
The free plan does allow unlimited one on one meetings, but limits sessions of more than two people to a timeframe of 40 minutes and 100 participants - perfect for chatting to a group of family and friends. If you want to talk in your group for longer than 40 minutes, just log back in to the meeting once your time is up and the next 40 minutes will start.
You can download the Zoom app on your computer, tablet or phone, and join any meeting if your contact has supplied you with a meeting ID number.
You can choose to disable video (or audio too) before joining if you don't want the other person/people to see you on camera that day, you will just hear each other's voices instead.
You could even create your free Zoom account, and from there you can create a new meeting, schedule a meeting, join a meeting, share a screen, add contacts, and so on.
Keep in mind you can only be signed in to Zoom on one computer, one tablet, and one phone at a time. If you sign into an additional device whilst logged into another device of the same type, you will be logged out automatically on the first device.
And that's it, you now know what people are talking about when they mention Zoom!
Want to know more? Watch our video tutorial (in Maltese) on how to use Zoom here.