
Photos: The 54 coolest virtual backgrounds to use in Zoom meetings (TechRepublic).The tech pro’s guide to video conferencing (free PDF) (TechRepublic).Zoom 101: A guidebook for beginners and business pros (TechRepublic Premium).Zoom has attracted many users by having a robust free tier, which allows meetings of up to 100 people without restricting any app features, instead limiting meetings for free accounts to 40 minutes. By 2017, Zoom had grown into a unicorn company by reaching $1 billion in valuation.Īlong with its desktop and mobile apps, Zoom offers solutions for enterprise conference rooms, browser extensions, online seminars, and a web client that allows meeting participants to attend meetings without having to install the Zoom app. Zoom has been lauded for its simple interface, ease of use, and accessibility to non-tech savvy people, which has aided in its steady climb as a video conferencing app of choice for small businesses, enterprises, and individuals. Zoom, the company, was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, and the Zoom application was released in 2013. It supports one-on-one calls, as well as group meetings that can hold up to 100 users for free or 500 users with an additional purchase. Zoom is video conferencing software for Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile devices that run iOS or Android. Zoom supports screen sharing from laptop and desktop devices, as well. SEE: How to use Zoom: 15 tips and tricks (free PDF) (TechRepublic) Zoom lets people who join a meeting with an Android or iOS device share the screen of their mobile device. So, is Zoom still a video conferencing app worth using? If so, who should use it when so much personal and business security could be at risk? Learn more by reading this Zoom basics guide.

Zoom has pledged to fix a long list of security issues, but that hasn’t stopped a third of users from getting cold feet. Major companies and governments around the world have been banning Zoom from work use, and half a million sets of user credentials have even been found for sale on the Dark Web. Zoom’s explosive growth came with increased focus on security and privacy issues that went largely unnoticed before.

SEE: Zoom video conferencing: Cheat sheet (free PDF) (TechRepublic) Major media platforms started using Zoom to stream broadcasts from at-home anchors, and “Zooming” quickly became eponymous with video chats and virtual meetings. In February 2020, Zoom added more users than it did in the entirety of 2019. With workforces scattered to the wind, many businesses have had to adapt to virtual meetings as the new normal, which has been a massive boon for the video chat and conferencing software Zoom.


Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are working from home.
