Too bad; I've enjoyed running my free CS/programming Helpout [1].<p>Besides the decline in user growth that Google mentions, here are the major problems I saw while using it:<p>* hosting a free Helpout meant dealing with constant no-shows [2]. I started charging $1/hour and then refunding it to folks who showed up.<p>* attendees of free Helpouts were rarely prepared<p>* the scheduling system was very limited (especially compared to Google Calendar)<p>That said, when everything worked, it was an amazing experience.<p>[1] <a href="https://helpouts.google.com/103350848301234480355/ls/a344f06e06d4d5db" rel="nofollow">https://helpouts.google.com/103350848301234480355/ls/a344f06...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://simon.codes/2013/11/07/google-helpouts-first-impressions.html" rel="nofollow">https://simon.codes/2013/11/07/google-helpouts-first-impress...</a>
As prophesied in the top comment (by user24) right here: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771</a>
> The Helpouts community includes some engaged and loyal contributors, but unfortunately, it hasn't grown at the pace we had expected.<p>(from helpouts.google.com)<p>Google feels more and more like a company that suffers from gigantomania (a nice service "hasn't grown at the pace we had expected" - so it should be no less than Google Search?) on the one hand, and inability to bring new products to the market on the other.<p>I have a theory that there is no such thing as bad idea. Any initial idea, be it seemingly good or bad in the beginning, requires refinement, development and a lot of solid work. If you look at any successful product or service today, the initial idea wouldn't have necessarily be qualified as good. It's a thousand of new derivative and auxiliary ideas that make the original one interesting and eventually also successful.<p>So according to this theory, if a company shuts down its own products one after another, and screws up others that used to work well - that company is clearly malfunctioning. In case of Google it doesn't seem to be bad engineering, in fact Google can be considered one of the top few companies in the world in terms of technical quality. It seems to be more on the product management side.<p>Google, you need to change, fast. I have a feeling your countdown timer may have started already.
This happens a lot, before using any service by Google I tend to ask myself, twice, "if they shut this down, which they might very well do, what is my backup plan?" Honestly, it's hard to make a good case to rely on them for much outside of their core products.
I offered help with electronics projects and had maybe a dozen sessions. I charged the default $1/minute and really enjoyed it, because I got to hear about all kinds of cool things people were working on, and I got the satisfaction of helping them, and it helped pay for my own projects. I'm kinda bummed they're shutting down.
Anyone looking for a alternative should check out <a href="http://liveninja.com" rel="nofollow">http://liveninja.com</a> which is the largest and most refined player in the space.
I'm in no way surprised. I thought this was a questionable idea when it debuted and it never struck me as something that could actually grow into something popular.<p>Part of the issue, I think, is that Google as a company fundamentally does not understand content. (YouTube is the one exception here and even with YouTube, the way the whole YouTube partner program works, the way the ad side is run and other aspects make it clear that they still really don't get content -- they just happen to have a great platform and a few people trying to convince people who make more than them to think outside the algorithm).<p>It was an interesting idea but marred with poor execution and a dwindling Google+ audience.
Google and Googlers for that matter always want to work on the newest cool thing, maybe something that has been done before. If you're a developer at Google would you rather work on maintaining something like Google helpouts or Google voice? Or would you want to work on the next big thing? I know what I would want on my resume.<p>The downside is that Google seems to abandon things. I feel like they need to have a better exit strategy since some people really like the products they put out to pasture. I liked how they outsourced Google wave for example.
The first clue I have to there being a problem is that this is the first time I've heard of Google Helpouts. I use a wide assortment of Google products, but never heard a thing about this one.
What if Google took the "enable" approach, instead of the "content owner" approach:<p>+ Enable existing expert communities (and developing ones) to add voice and video consultation via libraries and APIs that leverage WebRTC</p><p>+ Enable choice of Google ID or other IDs<p>+ Enable choice of Google Payments or other<p>+ Enable record and streaming options via YouTube<p>I know the above doesn't have the same short-term business model upside as Google Helpouts did, but, then again, would Helpouts still be around today if it took the enable path?
I tried this. Among other things, I do LSAT tutoring. I don't think I saw a single inquiry.<p>People have specific places they go to look for LSAT tutors, and google helpouts wasn't one of them.<p>LSAT is more specific than some other niches, but I imagine this same problem occurred in most areas.
I was surprised to find that this isn't among Gwern's 10 Google services most likely to be shut down[0], but I think it may just be too recent to have been included; I don't know that he's ever re-run the analysis.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns#predictions" rel="nofollow">http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns#predictions</a>
If you use Google products, you are gonna have a bad time.<p>Find alternatives and become free. You don't need to replace everything at the same time, you can do it one product at a time.
Google Helpouts was the greatest thing ever when it first launched, for me, from a hiring helpers point of view ... I got amazing help solving some coding problems for a reasonable price ... really saved me from a terrible jam I was in.<p>But over time it seemed like less and less "helpers" were available, so obviously it wasn't working for everyone else.
No need to be negative, but this was a failure from the beginning. I tried a number of times to "helpout" but was not accepted. I'm no industry expert, but I do have some things to freely offer and thought it was weird that I had to wait and wait and wait to become accepted and by the time that happened, I was no longer interested.
Codementor is alive and growing - we are an open marketplace for on-demand developer help and longterm mentorship. Anyone is welcome to apply as mentors. Once you are approved, you can set your rate however you'd like.<p>Check us out: <a href="https://www.codementor.io" rel="nofollow">https://www.codementor.io</a>
Try ClassDo ( <a href="https://classdo.com" rel="nofollow">https://classdo.com</a> ). There are teachers and students from 140 countries. It's also featured on the Wall Street Journal <a href="http://on.wsj.com/1yhzGCK" rel="nofollow">http://on.wsj.com/1yhzGCK</a>
The service was a good idea, but it probably needs to be decentralized to avoid a central party bearing legal liabilities.<p>Run by Google, it was killed by all the regulation surrounding the sale of services. Can't give medical advice, can't get payments in Europe, etc.
Google Answers was great because it was text based and asynchronous; Google Helpouts was not so great because it was video based and (mainly) synchronous.<p>Why didn't they put more resources into Answers? And what were their expectations for Helpouts?
Just wondering: why not spin off a separate company to continue the service? Because they don't want to lose the engineers working on this? I guess that seems more important to the company?
If you're looking for an alternative you should check out www.vexbook.com - the calibre of people is higher. It's over Skype or Facetime so it works with any smartphone.