Zoom is beginning 2023 with several new features and partnerships designed to enhance meetings on the platform, including avatars, meeting templates, new chat features and curated apps from the company’s App Marketplace.
In two blog posts this week, the company detailed four new features and new Zoom-curated Essential Apps, both of which are designed to improve upon the videoconferencing and collaboration platform as the collaboration industry continues to be super competitive as we begin a third year of heavy usage of collaboration tools.
New features
For new features, the company is adding avatars, meeting templates, threaded messages and reactions in in-meeting chats and a Q&A tool for meetings.
According to Zoom, its new avatars feature allows users to create customizable virtual characters that can be displayed in place of a user’s physical body. The avatars will mirror movements and facial expressions, allowing users to present themselves without needing to be on video. Currently in beta, avatars are available to all Zoom users globally.
The company is also providing three out-of-the-box meeting templates to help meeting organizers quickly optimize settings for meetings, including large meetings, seminars and K-12 scenarios. In large meeting templates, automated captions and content recording is automatically enabled. The seminar template includes tighter controls, such as disabled screen sharing. The K-12 template features advanced polls and quizzes to foster engagement and productivity while limiting distracting tools.
For in-meeting chats, the company is releasing threaded messages and reactions to allow users to create message threads and consolidate emoji reactions, as well as a Q&A feature for meetings for Zoom One Business, Zoom Business Plus, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus accounts.
Essential Apps
Also announced this week were Zoom-curated Essential Apps, which the company says gives users with Zoom One Pro, Business and Business Plus plans access to premium versions of select apps to help automate manual tasks, access other apps and create more engaging meetings.
Zoom lists 11 such apps in its announcement blog, including apps for productivity, collaboration, team activities, workshops, sales and customer relationships.
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