Google Hangout helps families across the globe share stories, but what if they could become an integral part of the stories themselves? In collaboration with Penguin Publishing, London-based Bartle Bogle Hegarty developed Storytime Hangout, an app for Google+. Storytime allows families to share the story of Three Billy Goats Gruff over a hangout and enables children and number of other users to act out characters using their webcam.

As the child turns the pages, the group participates in the story together. Each page will show a snapshot of the user’s webcam with a mask of a character in the tale, giving
them a chance to play out the scenes as and when they occur. Storytime takes the traditional bedtime tale and reinvents it, making it more of an interactive, community experience, even if the community is spread across the globe. As technology continues to transform publishing, expect this interactive sort of storytelling to be on the rise.