Google must throw the last shovel in the ordeal of its failed social network Google+ by definitively replacing it with Espaços. Although the initiative was discontinued a few years ago for the consumer, the search giant still maintained a corporate service for internal communication in companies called Currents (formerly known as Google+ for G Suite).
Now Big Tech has decided to do away with Currents due to low usage. In practice, the replacement tool does more or less what “Corporate Google+” delivered: creating group chats, file sharing locations, and establishing workflows.
The good part is that Espaços supports bots, so you can perform mechanical tasks, such as entering the progress of a project in Asana, with just one click. Robots automate things and allow you to integrate solutions directly into the Workspace screen, including from third-party companies.
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This isn’t exactly a new service, but it is “sold” by Google as if it were something innovative. Previously called Salas, the solution has expanded to deliver a virtual place to organize conversations with people, debate specific topics, or track projects through Workspace. As it had many similarities with Currents, it didn’t make sense for developers to keep two proposals that deliver practically the same result.
Integration with Google Workspace
The best part is that Spaces is already fully integrated into the Workspace suite of products, so it’s much easier to use it via Gmail, add an appointment to Calendar, or share a file saved to Drive. However, not all Currents features will be migrated — data on posts, popular tags, and most influential profiles are examples — which may upset current users.
The company’s official calendar predicts that Currents will end in 2023, as all content and communities will still need to be migrated to the modernized experience. New features will also be added to improve communication and provide more robustness, such as support for larger communities, advanced search, security mechanisms and content moderation tools.
With the strengthening of remote and hybrid work, corporate market solutions must be expanded worldwide. Google knows this all too well, which is why it invests time and money in strengthening Workspace, with a focus on privacy and integration. Organizations using the service will receive notices from developers to activate the migration in the coming months, so they can get used to the defunct Google+ replacement.
