Newest iteration of Google+ Hangouts a great tool for SMBs, startups

You don't need an invitation anymore to check out Google+, the search giant's stab at social networking. Earlier this week, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) opened it up to the public, although--as it does with almost all of its projects--the company said it would continue to evolve the platform, thus the Beta tag.

You also don't need an invite to check out what I think is its best feature: Hangouts, the group video chat that lets you connect with up to 10 people at a time.

It's by far one of the simplest group chat options available, and I think it's going to become a great tool for businesses, especially if they're trying to keep costs down.

The latest version of Hangouts (and you can be sure there will be more iterations as adoption picks up) adds some cool features.

At the top of the list is that it's now available for Android-based mobile devices (an iOS version is said to be on the way) so you can conduct quick meetings on the road--as long as you have a front-facing camera on your smartphone or tablet. Want to host a quick sales meeting for your team? Hangout.

You can even webcast with Hangouts on Air, which allows you to broadcast a Hangout session to an unlimited number of viewers (although only 10 will be able to actually participate in, say, a panel discussion).

That's a pretty easy way to take a product update, for example, to a large, distributed sales team, or to just get a message out to an extended workforce. You can even record the session and make it available to view later.

And it's free.

While it currently doesn't give you the option to do much more than share a YouTube video, Google says that, down the road, you'll be able to share Google Docs and, perhaps, even share screens.

Make no mistake, Hangouts isn't currently refined or robust enough to replace even some of the more modest video conferencing options available on the market.

There are privacy issues, for example, because while you can control who you invite, other attendees also can invite their contacts. And you can't kick them out.

And, there are latency issues and some issues with sound. It's not, for example, an ideal way to discuss serious business with a customer, the quality just isn't there yet.

What it does do, is allow businesses to experiment with video chat, to see if it can be a productive tool. And it does so with a platform that, like many Google products, is user-friendly and that has a simple and effective UI, which requires no training.

Check it out; you may be surprised at just how useful it can be.--Jim