Google today announced at its Cloud Next 2019 conference that Google+, the ill-fated social media network that never seemed to take off, has been re-branded as Google Currents for G Suite customers. The company originally stated that Google+ would remain intact for business customers while the consumer version of the service got killed. However, it was unclear how it would live on. Now, we have a pretty good idea: as a social network for employees.
With Google Currents, users will have a very similar experience when compared to Google+. You’ll still be able to post things, access communities, and receive notifications, Google wants to position the service as a place where “employees can easily see discussions that are trending in their organization.” It’s a way to keep up with company news, essentially.
Google+ isn’t the first product to become a business solution. Hangouts has been slowly dying for years at this point, and Google’s last major change to the service was a rethinking of what it could be as a business utility. That’s where Hangouts Chat and Meet came from. Now, we have Currents which, hopefully, does well enough to stick around for longer than most of Google’s products.
Right now, Currents is in beta, but you and your admins can ask for access to the beta by emailing CurrentsBeta@google.com.
