Michael Braun's Blog

I don’t use Apple’s video chat program FaceTime very frequently; in fact, I almost never use any video chat software. My guess is that this is true for a lot of people, all with the same reason why. When talking with someone, there is little additional information to be gained by seeing their face. I experienced this when chatting with my college roommate Anthony. We began our conversation over the phone but then switched to using FaceTime. While it was fun to see Anthony, it meant that I couldn’t continue doing the menial computer tasks that I had been working on while we were talking on the phone. Instead, I had to dedicate my energy to holding up my phone and looking at the screen.

Adding faces to voice doesn’t facilitate productivity either. Study after study confirms that, when people work remotely on a task, being able to see each other is no help; the group is no more productive when they can see each other than when they can’t. Indeed, in some measures, being able to see each other was actually worse. In one study, participants worked with a partner on a task in two synchronous conditions (real time interaction) – either via instant messaging or via video chat. In the IM condition, participants reported higher liking for their partner than in the video chat. Seeing our partner may make us like them less.

There is something that FaceTime could add, however, that has been shown to increase productivity. When remote participants had access to a shared workspace (for example, seeing the same spreadsheet or computer program), then their productivity improved. This is not especially surprising to anyone who has tried to give someone computer help over the phone. Not being able to see that person’s screen can be maddening, because the person needing help has to describe everything and the person giving help has to reconstruct the problem in her mind.

So then, why doesn’t Apple enable FaceTime to support screen sharing? This would be a truly unique use of the software and would make the application much more popular. This feature would allow real-time collaboration on a document or presentation; it would enable people to play games together over their iOS devices, more easily than current implementations like the clumsy Game Center; it would give a use for FaceTime on iOS devices without front-facing cameras; and it could be a way for FaceTime to retain relevance in a world over-saturated with video chatting applications.

Apple would just need to give apps the option of sharing through FaceTime; apps already have this option for displaying video content on remote devices through AirPlay. Then, when both partners can see the same screen, Apple could show remote screen touches through some kind of light-pen effect; this would show the remote person’s screen touches as points of light on the screen. The same function could be added to the OS X FaceTime app, allowing easy screen-sharing between computer and iOS devices, or between computer and computer.

There are easy-to-use screen-sharing platforms out there. One of my new favorites is the website Join.Me. But FaceTime adds a level of simplicity to the process that would be an improvement over other implementations. Furthermore, adding these additional features would give Apple a leg up on the competition. Skype does offer screen-sharing, but only on its desktop products. Apple can lead the way with screen-sharing for mobile devices.

Related posts (automatically generated):

1. How Long Till FaceTime Scandal?
2. Kids and Screen Time
3. Speculation about Apple’s Sept. 1 Music Event

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 at 09:40 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.