Google’s new app for Workspace mirrors current workplace communication trends. It might also indicate that slide presentations are becoming less dominant.
For many years, jobs have focused on text files, data tables, and presentations. Think of Microsoft’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Apple’s Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Google’s Docs, Sheets, Slides.
Now, Google suggests a new addition to this group: an application named Vids. This tool is designed to make creating and sharing videos in a team setting simpler than before.
Google Vids isn’t designed for creating stunning films or even average-looking ones. Its purpose is more about workplace activities like giving pitches, informing the team, or clarifying complex ideas.
Kristina Behr, who is in charge of product management for Workspace collaboration apps at Google, emphasizes the app’s main aim: to simplify everything as much as possible.
“The ethos that we have is, if you can make a slide, you can make a video in Vids,” she says. “No video production is required.”
From what I’ve observed about Vids, it seems to be like turning Google Slides into a video application. You gather materials from Drive and other places and arrange them sequentially. However, instead of organizing slides in a vertical list like in Slides, you’re creating a horizontal timeline for a video.
Next, you have the option to record your voice or video of yourself and merge it all into a complete video. I believe many of these final videos will resemble PowerPoint presentations that have been recorded, video meetings, or those common training videos where someone speaks from a small circle at the bottom corner as visuals appear on the screen.
I expect to see many promotional videos filled with clip art. However, in principle, Vids allows you to create nearly anything.
You can work on this alone or ask Google’s Gemini AI to prepare an initial version of the video. Gemini can create a storyboard, draft a script, narrate your script using text-to-speech, and generate images for your video.
The app also provides a collection of stock videos and sounds that you can include in your Vids.
After creating something in Vids, you can share it. However, like other Google productivity tools, sharing a Vid (as Google suggests calling them) means more than just sending a file.
People you share it with can add comments, notes, and even make their own edits to the video. Kristina Behr mentions, “You could turn it into an MP4 file if you want, but we’re hoping it will be very similar to our other collaborative tools.” In her view, and Google’s, a video is not so different from a spreadsheet.
There are many tools designed to simplify processes like this, including video messaging services like Loom and editing platforms like Descript. Even ClickUp is incorporating video options into its productivity suite, and Vimeo has largely shifted to serving businesses with tools for creating quick promotional videos.
Google is entering this space a bit later than others, but it shares the same prediction as the rest: in a world where remote work and video dominate culture, employees will likely spend less time writing emails and more time producing videos during their work hours.
Google’s main advantage is its ability to link Vids with its numerous other applications. Kristina Behr mentions that more integration is on the way, including support for mobile devices.
However, one thing not included is any connection to YouTube, another video service owned by Google. Behr finds it amusing when this is brought up, explaining that while some technology is shared between the two, their target audiences and purposes are quite different. Vids is specifically designed for workplace use by professionals.
Google aims to release Vids to the public as a beta version this summer. Some users of Workspace have already been trying it out, and according to Behr, certain patterns are starting to show.
She notes that most Vids are brief, typically less than three minutes long, and are often used for things like presentations, instructional videos, updates, and videos that recognize achievements or individuals.
What we think?
I think Google’s Vids will change how we work. It’s like making a video as easy as a slide show. People will probably use it a lot for quick updates or teaching something new.
It’s cool you can work with others on a video, like we do in Google Docs. I’m curious to see if it really catches on, especially for short, simple videos at work.
