Google+ was retired back in April last year but that was only for the consumer version. Although not exactly used like Twitter or Facebook, G Suite users relied on Google+ for internal discussions. Finally that day will take place on July 6, 2020.
Google announced that the G Suite version of the ill-fated social network is going to be rebranded as ‘Google Currents’. Now, more than a year later, the company has announced that the new service will be officially launched on July 6. The ‘Currents’ branding also will be introduced to the existing Google+ apps on Android and iOS, said by the company.
In an e-mail to G Suite administrators on June 4th, Google said that existing Google+ enterprise users are going to be automatically transitioned to the new portal that offers an updated look and feel and additional features including content moderation and administrative privileges, the company said. It will also carry over some Google+ concepts, such as ‘tags’ and ‘streams’.
Google Currents has been in beta from the past several months. According to the tech giant, it’ll ‘engage employees’ and enable them to ‘have meaningful discussions’. It will also assist them “Stay current-together”, and hence, the name. Existing Google+ links will continue to work and will redirect to Google Currents, said by the company.
In 2018, Google shut down the consumer version of Google+, citing low usage. The decision to pursue the discovery of a critical security vulnerability in one of its ‘People APIs’. The Bug is said to have existed since 2015. It reportedly exposed its private user-data of about half a million of users to third-party developers. According to Google, the Critical information might have leaked by Bug, including gender, age, occupation, and email IDs of many users.
Google’s Ben Smith in a statement said, “While our engineering teams have put a lot of effort and dedication into building Google+ over the years, it has not achieved broad consumer or developer adoption, and has seen limited user interaction with apps.”
G Suite users can request early access by sending a mail to currentsbeta@google.com. This is not the first app called Google Current. Back in 2011, Google has launched a Magazine App, which was the predecessor to Google Play News-stand. This was later replaced by Google News.
How to get started
- For Admins: To request access to a beta program for the organization, they need to email at currentsbeta@google.com.
- For end-users: No action required.
Sources: By Google
