With video-based Cameos, Google lets celebs engage with fans
Internet giant Google’s new iOS app Cameos lets public figures respond to popular questions in search results with short videos.
Search giant Google has released a new video-based Q&A app called Cameos. Cameos, on invitation as of now, lets celebrities record vertical full-screen video answers to commonly searched-for questions about them.
Much like Reddit’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions, the app lets celebrities choose to record answers as and when they want.
Google has opened the app up to actors, musicians, athletes, and other public figures. All they need to do – if they have access – is choose from a set of common Google questions and record brief video answers, which will appear at the top of relevant search results.
Posts on Google was used by major sports teams and celebrities to answer fan queries, and has now morphed into the Cameo app. Even small businesses and professionals began using the POG platform. Analysts are calling Cameos Google’s version of Twitter – but with the goal of helping searchers find answers to questions.
The App Store description says: “App that enables fans to engage with their favourite people and lets talent on the Cameo platform fulfill video shoutout requests from fans.”
The app allows celebrities to see the top questions people on the internet want answers to, so they can pick and choose the queries they want to answer. Their answers, recorded with their iPhone camera, will be published directly to Google search and in the Google app.
Instagram also put out a Q&A feature a month ago. This let users request questions from their followers and the celebrity could select the questions s/he wanted to respond to via video.
Videos are fast becoming the easiest way to engage with fans and audiences for several celebrities. Cricket superstar Virat Kohli took to Twitter videos to connect with his audience. But Cameo will let fans post questions that celebrities can directly respond to.
Google is betting on this as brand endorsements for short celebrity videos will be big business going forward. One only has to follow West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle and see the videos he makes to communicate with fans on behalf of brands such as Attiitude.