Early last week, the Dalai Lama joined Google+ and announced he was planning a hangout with the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu to conduct a peace lecture and wish the leader a happy 80th birthday. After some visa issues, the Dalai Lama sent a video message and held the hangout last Friday 10:30 a.m. South African time (GMT+2.00) which was 4:30 a.m. ET in the U.S.
The Dalai Lama is not new to social media. He has a large Twitter and Facebook following and perhaps the coolest part of all this is the fact that he chose Google+ vs. Skype, YouTube live, UStream, and the plethora of other streaming/video options that have existed longer than Google+.
Thanks to amazing engineering by the Google Team, the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu were able to talk online without any issues while several people watched from their screens. The two peace figures discussed compassion, friendship, poked fun at each other, and of course discussed world peace. Watch the video here.
Are you on Google+? If not, what’s stopping you? Even the Dalai Lama is “hanging out” on Google+. What’s your excuse?
