Google Plus, the company’s failed social network, officially disappeared as of today. After Google Plus personal accounts were closed last year, Google announced that it would replace the social network for business users with Google Currents. Currents is generally available starting today, and the Google Plus apps for Android and iOS have been switched to Google Currents to reflect the change (via 9to5Google)
Currents, given its business focus, is designed to help people within organizations communicate with each other. Users can post and comment on discussions, and can view content in a “start flow” similar to a news feed, which can be ranked by relevance or chronologically, according to Google. G Suite administrators can also moderate discussions if necessary.
If you want to get an idea of how updated mobile apps are, check out these screenshots from the Google Play Store:
In 2018, Google began a multiphase process to shut down Google Plus, in part because it had “low usage and commitment.” But the company also identified security vulnerabilities that took into account its decision to shut it down (one of which accelerated shutdown plans by four months). Google began closing and deleting consumer accounts on Google Plus in April 2019, and released Currents in beta shortly thereafter.
This is not the first Google product called Currents; The company offered a magazine app with that name until 2013. That year, Google renamed that app as Google Play Kiosk, which was eventually replaced by Google News.
