We rocked the Google+ Hangout

As we've said time and time again, Google + has potential but it's a little late to the party. The bells and whistles are tempting, but they seem to be under used.  Well, just last night I gave Google+ Hangout a test run with a virtual baby shower.

A Google+ Baby Shower Hangout 

I invited my sister-in-law's friends from across the country to celebrate the soon-to-arrive baby boy.  At 6 pm, ladies from MN, KY, TX and LA logged on and joined the hangout.  Everyone except me was new to Google +, so it took 15 minutes or so (and a number of phone calls) to get everyone up and running. 

We played games, caught everyone up on life, had some shower-ish food and great virtual laughs. There were a few snags, like when some party-goers couldn't hear others, which lead to translators. Certain locations were stuck as the larger picture even when someone else was 'talking the loudest' and people kept getting logged out and needed to rejoin.

Overall it was a great 3 hours hanging out with friends scattered across the country...and then pictures from the shower and comments about the fun times were posted on Facebook.

How are you using Google+?