Zoom will let you appear at your next meeting as a bunny, fox, dog, or another type of animal — by using its new “avatar” feature to replace you with an avatar that replicates your expression, according to reports. It’s Memoji style. The company said the feature, which was included in the Zoom 5.10 update, will only allow users to be an animal at launch, but new avatar options will be added in the future.
Zoom sees the feature as useful in many different scenarios — in its press release, it mentions that showing up with an avatar filter can “bring some fun into your team-building sessions” or help a pediatrician look Not so scary for small children.
There’s also the idea that it could help relieve Zoom fatigue. At least one study suggests that constantly looking at yourself to make sure you look and respond appropriately is part of what makes video calls all day tired. It would be a lot easier if the Zoom box showed a giraffe that mirrored your facial expressions.
To use this new feature, users need to open the “avatar”, then Zoom will instruct the user to click the ^ button next to the start/stop video button, and then click to choose video filter (Choose Video Filter). Then, select the animal you want to display from the Avatars tab. Plus, users can even decide whether their avatar wears a hoodie or a T-shirt. Users can also choose to always apply the filter when they enter a meeting if they wish.
The video conferencing app already has a variety of Snapchat-like filters and effects that users can use to change their appearance — you can add bunny ears or a mustache to your face, or use Snap’s camera app to give yourself a cartoony look. Zoom’s new avatar feature goes one step further, replacing users entirely. Zoom says that if an “avatar” is used, it does not store any data about its face or facial features.
It’s hard to say how useful Zoom avatars are in reducing meeting anxiety or fatigue — not because they’re not fun, but because other people are tolerant of Zoom’s practice.