Google Currents Launching To Replace Google Plus

With the demise of the Google+ social network platform in 2019, Google has just announced that they are launching a replacement platform called Google Currents. Being made readily available to G Suite users from 6th July 2020, the company announced in an email to G Suite administrators on Friday 5th June that Currents will be a tool that will allow companies to engage employees, bringing them together and encourage meaningful discussions.

 

What Will Happen To Google+ For Enterprises?

Although Google decided to sunset the Google+ social media network, the enterprise version still exists and users on the platform will be upgraded to Currents, upon the launch, as it contains additional features such as content moderation and administrative privileges.

“Currents makes it easy to have meaningful discussions by enabling leaders and employees to exchange ideas across the organization and gather valuable feedback and input from others — without flooding inboxes.” – Google

Once launched, current Google+ users will see their accounts and content automatically transferred to the new platform with full functionality coming into play within five days. Google has advised that plus.google.com links will be redirected to currents.google.com URLs. To coincide with the launch, the Google+ apps on Android and iOS will be rebranded to showcase the new Currents.

What Should We Expect From The Google Currents Interface?

The new Currents platform will include a home stream, which will act similarly to the Facebook news feed and have the option to be ordered by relevant or newest to oldest. The posts will allow for sharing of links, images, text and Google Drive content and polls, all of which will benefit businesses greatly. Those with admin privileges will have additional features to their accounts including content moderation, which will be able to be applied to specific employees and colleagues that have set up custom streams as well as the ability to track engagement of posts shared across the platform. 

The platform has actually already been in beta mode for a few months and some G Suite users have been testing the new interface out. When the original Google+ platform was released, it was intended to be a competitor to the likes of Facebook or Twitter. However, Currents seems to be on par with Microsoft Teams, ClickUp (our preferred tool) or Slack. 

This platform will greatly benefit from being launched at this time due to more businesses looking for collaborative working tools to streamline employees and work since some have been forced to work remotely due to the Coronavirus outbreak. 

Why Do You Need Google Currents?

If you haven’t already implemented a collaborative project management tool for your team or company, you could look at Google Currents as a potential solution. They have launched with the following quote: 

“Work towards a common goal with Currents. Build a productive community where everyone stays on the same page.” – Google

Presenting itself as a platform that brings your company goals, colleagues and workstreams together, it sets out to encourage users to share opinions, ideas and concepts in an organised space to benefit your business.

With remote working being on a lot of organisations’ plans for the next six months or so, Currents endorses home working with a particular focus on keeping colleagues in the loop about work, projects, company updates and conversations. This functionality continues through the Android and iOS apps. Project managers can also view the history of a specific task through the features in the platform and can identify which team members contributed to the project.

This project management tool also allows users to ‘follow’ and subscribe to tags to stay updated with topics they are interested in and admins can moderate any published content so the platform offers productivity at its finest. 

How Much Does Google Currents Cost?

New G Suite customers can benefit from an introductory offer cost starting at just £4.14 per user, per month for the basic package. Whilst the enterprise package benefits from 13 apps and a speedier troubleshooting service as well as several other features and prices start from £20 per user, per month. View their pricing structure and breakdown here. 

For more advice on tools that will help boost your productivity, project management and organisation, get in touch with us today by calling us on 0333 772 0189 or emailing us at hello@digitalethos.net