One of the winners due to the global pandemic has been Zoom. With millions of people around the world having to work from home, it quickly became one of the leading virtual conferencing apps. While it has traditionally been a serious business tool, it has lately become one of the most widely used communication tools for private individuals as well. Therefore, Zoom is not catering to individuals as well.
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For this reason, the company is adding more quirky, light-hearted features that will be used for chats with friends and family rather than business meetings. This includes fun backgrounds and in-call effects, and now a new feature called Studio Effects. It gives the user the ability to add eyebrows, facial hair, and lip colour to your video image during Zoom sessions.
Studio Effects was initially announced in 2020, but it is now officially in beta and several Zoom users have started to discover the feature.
If you want to check if it is available to you, start up Zoom session and go to Video Settings (which is found by hitting the arrow next to “Stop Video” at the bottom of the screen). From there, select “Background & Filters” and look for “Studio Effects (Beta)” in the lower right-hand corner. (You may need to download the effects package first — go ahead, it will only take a minute.)
It isn’t clear how large the beta test is or how long it will last until it is released to everyone.
The Zoom share price took a decent knock when the coronavirus vaccines were announced, as many believe it will lead to lower usage as more people start heading back to the office. However, several studies have shown that most companies that are able will allow its employees to work from home (in some capacity) indefinitely.
