Google Hangouts Gets Its Own Site, Just Like Facebook Messenger | TechCrunch

Tangentially, see Remember Facebook Notes? It's Back with a Vengeance (Wired) for what may be next collab/social competitive front: cloning Medium

"Yes, this is also part of the breaking away that Google+ services are going through, joining the Photos product in all of its “standalone” glory. I use Hangouts in Gmail on the desktop, but I might switch over. Having a big old call button is actually kind of handy.

This is also, of course, a massive branding exercise for Google. It wants to build powerful brands to compete with other micro-products coming out of Facebook, Microsoft and Snapchat. Google has Photos and Hangouts, Facebook has Instagram and Messenger and Snapchat is coming on strong with Stories."

Google Hangouts Gets Its Own Site, Just Like Facebook Messenger | TechCrunch