Google: We’re shutting down Currents and shifting users to Spaces, because of hybrid work | ZDNet

Google is shutting down Currents, an app it brought to G Suite in 2019, and will instead promote Spaces, an app for organizing “people, topics, and projects”.

Google Currents was meant to improve office water cool chats by connecting superiors with subordinates. It also served as a replacement to Google+, the unpopular social network it shut down in 2018. 

Google will begin to “wind down” Currents in 2023 and move users’ content over to Spaces. It hasn’t specified an exact timeline for Currents’ end of life, but says it will beef up Spaces in the meantime. The improvements to Spaces “include support for larger communities and leadership communication, investments in advanced search, tools for content moderation, and more.” 

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Google will also bolster search and discoverability, improve Spaces as a platform for app development, and work on enterprise features around cybersecurity and compliance, such as data protection, data loss prevention and Vault support. 

Google plans to share a timeline for the closure of Currents in the coming months. 

“If your organization is using Currents, we’ll share a timeline for opting in to data migration and other milestones in the coming months, as well as guidance to assist with the transition. Spaces are available to all Google Workspace customers today,” Google says in a blogpost. 

Google is making the change as part of its shift to hybrid work. “The accelerating transition to hybrid work has significantly changed the way people collaborate, and Google Workspace customers are using Chat and Spaces to communicate about projects, share organizational updates, and build community,” Google says.  

“Upgrading Google Currents to Spaces removes a separate, siloed destination for users, and provides organizations with a modern, enterprise-grade experience that reflects how the world is working today. Spaces provide a central place for teams to engage in topic-based discussions, share knowledge and ideas, move projects forward, and build communities and team culture.”

Currents will join Google’s growing pile of shuttered projects, which will soon also include the free G Suite option for users who wanted a personal domain name.