Google’s New Open Source Project Lets You Add Live Streaming to Your App

The numbers all point to the same conclusion: When it comes to modern communication mediums, videoconferencing is becoming increasingly popular.

Consider the following:

• 70 percent of employees would rather use videoconferencing than travel to a meeting.
• Video lends itself to longer attention spans: According to research, users can focus for 35 minutes on video calls; that number shrinks to 23 minutes for regular phone calls.
• As much as 93 percent of human communication is nonverbal; videoconferencing allows for a better communication experience than a phone call, as those involved in the conversation can sense things like body language and gesticulation in order to better understand what’s being conveyed.

In other words, video is important. And now thanks to a new Google-backed open source project—YouTube WatchMe—it’s a whole lot easier to add live streaming video functionality into apps made by third-party developers.

And that’s great news: Rather than having to develop the framework that allows you to integrate live video streaming functionality into your Android-based projects on your own, Google’s done all the busywork for you. You’re now able to incorporate additional media tools into your applications.

According to the company’s blog, the YouTube WatchMe project leverages YouTube Data API v3, YouTube Live Streaming API, Google Play Services and Plus API. You’re also able to completely customize the new tools for your specific app, tailoring it in a way that makes the most sense for your audience.

It’s safe to say that in 2014, users are growing to expect to see more and more video as they go about their daily digital routines. Rather than forcing third-party programmers to write the code themselves that enables this live streaming functionality, Google understands that by giving it away for free, programmers will be able to engineer more comprehensive apps.

And there’s bound to be at least one out of the bunch that’s truly transformative.

Read more: Video Streaming Wars