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April 12, 2023
New community features for Google Chat and an update on Currents
Currents
Google Chat
Other
Note:
This blog post outlines upcoming changes to Google Currents for Workspace users. For information on the previous deprecation of Google+ for users with personal Google accounts, please
see this post
What's Changing
Last year, we
announced plans to wind down Currents
, to focus efforts on community experiences that are better integrated with the rest of Google Workspace.

To help our customers manage this transition, we published
detailed guidance
for Workspace administrators and enabled customers to opt-in for
automated migration of Currents data
to spaces in Google Chat. We are nearing the end of this transition. Beginning July 5, 2023, Currents will no longer be available.

Workspace administrators can
export Currents data using Takeout
before August 8, 2023. Beginning August 8th, Currents data will no longer be available for download. Although we are saying goodbye to Currents, we continue to invest in new features for
Google Chat
, so teams can connect and collaborate with a shared sense of belonging.…Over the last year, we've delivered features designed to support community engagement at scale, and will continue to deliver more. Here is a summary of the features with additional details below:
This month, we’re enabling
new ways for organizations to share information
across the enterprise with
announcements in Google Chat

This gives admin controls to limit permissions for posting in a space, while enabling all members to read and react, helping ensure that important updates stay visible and relevant. Later this year, we plan to simplify membership management by integrating Google Groups with spaces in Chat, enable post-level metrics for announcements, and provide tools for Workspace administrators to manage spaces across their domain.

Announcements in Google Chat
Managing space membership with Google Groups
We’ve already rolled out
new ways to make conversations more expressive and engaging
such as
in-line threading
to enable rich exploration of a specific topic without overtaking the main conversation and
custom emojis
to enable fun, personal expression.

In-line threaded conversations
Discover and join communities with up to 8,000 members
We’ve also made it easier for individuals to
discover and join communities of shared interest
. By
searching in Gmail
, users can explore a directory of available spaces covering topics of personal or professional interest such as gardening, pets, career development, fitness, cultural identity, and more, with the ability to
invite others to join
via link.

Last year, we increased
the size of communities supported by spaces in Chat to 8,000 members
, and we are working to scale this in a meaningful way later this year. A directory of spaces in Google Chat for users to join. As communities grow, it’s essential to provide
tools for content moderation and data management

Last year, we introduced
space managers
, a community lead with
abilities
moderate conversation
and
manage membership
, and last year at NEXT, we rolled out
data loss prevention
(DLP) for Chat. We will continue to enhance community health and data security for Google Chat.

Our partner community is extending the power of Chat through
integrations with essential third-party apps
such as
Jira, GitHub, Asana, PagerDuty
Zendesk and Salesforce
. Many organizations have
built custom workflow apps using low-code and no-code tools
, and we anticipate that this number will continue to grow with the GA releases of the Chat API and AppSheet’s Chat app building capabilities later this year.

For teams to thrive in this rapidly changing era of hybrid work, it’s essential to build authentic personal connections and a strong sense of belonging, no matter when or where individuals work. We will continue to make Google Chat the best option for Workspace customers seeking to build a community and culture for hybrid teams, with much more to come later this year.

Who's impacted
Admins and end users
Why it’s important
The transition from Currents to spaces in Google Chat removes a separate, siloed destination and provides organizations with a modern, enterprise-grade experience that reflects how the world is working today.

Google Workspace customers use Google Chat to communicate about projects, share organizational updates, and build community. Recommended action
Admins:
Review the Change Management Guide
Use Takeout to explore your organization’s Currents data before August 8, 2023.

End users:
Read more about how to get started
using spaces in Google Chat
Availability
Spaces in Google Chat are available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. Resources
Google Admin Help: Transition from Google Currents to Google Chat
Google Admin Help: Export your organization’s Google Currents data
Space manager role
(Feb 22)
Invite others to join via link
(Mar 22)
Create & manage spaces via API
(May 2022)
Larger spaces
(July 22)
Discoverable spaces
(Aug 22)
In-line threaded conversations
(Oct 22)
Custom emojis
(Oct 22)
Data loss prevention (DLP)
(Oct 22)
Create low-code/no-code Chat apps
(Dec 2022)
Improved membership management
(Jan 23)
New capabilities for space managers
(Mar 23)
Admin installation of Chat apps
(Mar 2023)
Announcements
(Apr 2023)