Keeping the Face in Facebook<\/h2>\n
While I\u2019m sure they do a lot of their internal networking through Facebook tools itself, they rely on a third party vendor for videoconferencing (Blue Jeans Network). They also use Box for cloud storage of files, Zoho.com for document collaboration (similar to Google Docs), and many other smaller collaboration tools.<\/p>\n What if instead, those things were built directly into Facebook? The video chat part at least is a natural fit, and somebody at Facebook must be looking into it. <\/p>\n The DataChannel of WebRTC could also be used to implement a custom document collaboration tool, or even for creating a Peer-to-Peer data sharing network or as a data transfer mechanism to cloud storage. It may not make sense for them to custom develop those tools when they can buy it off the shelf, but WebRTC does enable them to build the services easier and maybe more tightly integrate it with other enterprise tools.<\/p>\n In fact, that is a pain point as Campos points out \u2026 \u201cThe fact that these systems are all disparate and not integrated is a productivity challenge in itself.\u201d <\/p>\n Is the value of integrated tools worth the cost of custom development? Facebook apparently thinks so, since Campos continues that \u201cWe\u2019re in the process of building it ourselves because there isn\u2019t really an uber collaboration-integration capability out there that you can buy.\u201d<\/p>\n Imagine building a custom job applicant screening process directly into your website. Applicants can upload their resume, and them immediately record their video answers to your standard interview questions from the browser. Naturally you can use WebRTC to build this out, and make it very custom tailored to your companies HR process.<\/p>\n In the story Disruption D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, author Kim Nash writes how Western Union is trying to adjust<\/a> its 150 year-old business model to meet more contemporary ideas for sending money. Digital payment providers like Dwolla<\/a>, TransferWise<\/a>, and Barclays PingIt<\/a> are all mentioned as startups looking to disrupt the space that Western Union used to own. The hottest topic in this space are cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins<\/a>.<\/p>\n How could we apply WebRTC in this domain? One of the great powers of WebRTC is that you are setting up an encrypted peer to peer network via the browser. Once you have done the necessary handshaking to establish a connection with another browser, then there is no more third party involved. It\u2019s directly peer to peer, and it\u2019s encrypted. This means that the WebRTC DataChannel is perfectly suited for an application like BitCoins or digital payments in general. There\u2019s no risk of the third party signaling server stealing your Bitcoins if it never even sees them!<\/p>\n This is why I am so excited about WebRTC, and more broadly speaking, why I am so excited about real time communications and messaging applications in general. I\u2019ve stopped at these three examples, but other stories in that same issue also mention on-demand video, mobile chat, and more. Unified Communications advertisements abound.<\/p>\n Yes, there is a lot of hype about WebRTC. It\u2019s easy to dismiss it as \u201cjust an easier way to video chat.\u201d But the transformational power of these standards is not in trying to replace Skype or GoToMeeting. It\u2019s that you can integrate all types of communications more seamlessly into your application, and once developers realize this, it\u2019s going to mean disruption to a lot more companies than just Western Union.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in this topic, please join us at RealTimeWeekly.com<\/a>. Our team cultivates the best weekly blogs and announcements regarding real time messaging and WebRTC. Sign up today!<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Video](\"https:\/\/agilityfeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Fotolia_44336174_M-300x200.jpg\")
In this Q&A, Facebook CIO Tim Campos talks about how videoconferencing and collaboration tools help their distributed teams<\/a> to be more productive, but they run into integration challenges.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nJob Screening by Video<\/h2>\n
![\"Web](\"https:\/\/agilityfeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Fotolia_34299159_M-300x200.jpg\")
Kristen Lamoreaux writes about how large HR departments are now incorporating video screening of job applicants<\/a> into their process. Along with sending in a resume, the candidates are required to answer a number of the standard job questions by video. This keeps the interviews themselves more efficient and the tools profiled in the article allow for sharing and commenting around the videos.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nDisruption D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu \u2013 Western Union<\/h2>\n
![\"bitcoin\"](\"https:\/\/agilityfeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/bitcoin-300x169.png\")
As is common in blog posts about WebRTC, I\u2019ve given the first bit of attention to video chat applications. But what about our friend the Data Channel? Just to make my point that a single issue of CIO magazine inadvertently provided a lot of WebRTC inspiration, I\u2019ll point to the cover story.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nWebRTC applications are everywhere if you look for them<\/h2>\n
![\"RealTimeWeeklyBanner\"](\"https:\/\/agilityfeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/RealTimeWeeklyBanner.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n