What’s so exciting about Hangouts, isn’t what the app or service is today. The issue is that the filter, so to speak, doesn’t always work well, as evidenced by the image to the right. People you do not follow must request the ability to Hangout, while those you have circled can Hangout at will. Google has added the option to limit who can Hangout with you. Literally, anyone can send a message directly to my phone … without my permission. As much as I love interacting with readers, it almost feels like an invasion of privacy. With the open ability for anyone who has me circled on Google+ to message me or invite me to a video Hangout, it’s circumventing the need for my email address or cell phone number to directly contact me on my phone.

There is a major drawback to all of this, however. It will become a staple in communication for Android, and maybe iOS, too, eventually. But being powered and backed by one of the world’s largest (and one of the fastest growing) social networks means that Hangouts are more than just another IM service. Of course, that’s sort of what it’s always been. I’m really loving the changes and fully believe this could truly be Android’s BBM. And that’s something I hope stays that way. I estimate 90 percent of the messaging from my phones since Wednesday afternoon has been done using Hangouts. The eventual idea is to have as many of my friends and colleagues on Hangouts as possible, so that I don’t have to rely on Google Voice as much. And slowly but surely (maybe with a little reluctance), they’ve been moving over, too. Now every time one of them sends me a text on Google Voice, I tell them to use Hangouts. Many of my friends also casually used Talk before.

But most colleagues and coworkers already use Talk.

Hangouts app on mac change user