Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Google Maps now offers an interesting feature called Connect for Free that lets you call any listed business in the US. Using VOIP technology, it makes an instantaneous call to your telephone number (land line or mobile). Upon answering, the second call is placed to the business.

It worked perfectly when I tried it out for the first time today, and saved me the strenuous task of entering eleven numbers on my phone. It also offers to remember your phone number for repeat usage.

To hush potential concern over its abuse by pranksters, Google writes in its help page: Google takes fraud and spamming very seriously. We use technical methods to prevent future prank calls from the same user within a reasonable period of time. You won't be charged for any such calls.

Still, there's nothing to prevent the occasional one-off prank. There also doesn't seem to be an opt-out feature yet, or a Google account login requirement.

Daniel Modell