Will Zoom Survive the Coronavirus?
Zoom — the most popular video conferencing software in our pandemic age — might not survive the coronavirus.
This might come as a surprise, considering Zoom’s meteoric rise to become the social interaction tool of choice as a quarter of the world’s population stays home. Despite being relatively unknown compared to verb-inspiring behemoths like Skype and FaceTime, Zoom has been embraced for social encounters from work calls to remote classrooms to family hangouts.
Last weekend, my college friend and I scheduled a virtual happy hour. A few minutes before our planned chat, she texted me: Do you have Zoom?
Nope, I replied.
She sent a worried emoji. What are we going to do?
Why don’t we just use FaceTime?
Oh right, she wrote, LOL.
Zoom prevails over its competitors with its call quality and consumer-friendly features. Anybody can set up a 40-minute conference call with up to 100 attendees, record meetings, share high-quality video — for free! Login codes are optional, making Zoom an attractive option for brands looking to mass connect with their fans. It even has fun features, like virtual backgrounds.
