Unless you are living somewhere on Mars or Moon, chances are you may have heard about Google+ or must have also used it in your organization. Google shut it down a long time ago. Now that Google+ is time-worn and has completely shut down by the tech giant, Google’s new replacement application is out to make lots of buzz.
Google launched its new communication platform with the moniker “Google Currents” in the mid of July, 2020. Google Currents is particularly designed with more focus on enterprises rather than the individuals. The successor application facilitates companies with communication and information sharing among employees or with the leaders. It is available to all G-Suite users on Google’s workspace here.
Google Workspace incorporates access to Google Currents, which is brand new information to numerous individuals. Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, and Meet will in general overwhelm the conversation with regards to Workspace applications – Currents is usually disregarded.
If you want to get your hands on the app – download it from Play Store or App Store. And then jump on to the following read. We have got everything you need to know about Google Currents.
How to set up Google Currents account
Launch & sign up
The app requires you to sign up using your organization’s G-Suite account. Then, it will open up a window in your mobile’s browser. A prompt will appear – that states that Google+ no longer exists. Ignore this and complete the rest of the signup process. It will also automatically perpetuate information from your Google account. Be mindful of giving your personal information as it is an enterprise product – and your organization must own it.
Customize your profile
You can easily navigate through your profile using the ‘menu’ function. Unfortunately, you can only edit only one setting which is the ability to hide or show which collections you follow. All other information will be fetched from your Google account.
Various ways to use Google Currents
As an organization is a hub of lots of discussions, exchanges of ideas, and information; so Currents gives a viable platform for the following key communication categories:
Digital bulletin board for small or large groups:
You can think of the Currents app as a spot to share news and data to a number of individuals, specific colleagues or to exchange company-wide announcements. Policy and procedure announcements, important events, things of wide interest (e.g., recently added team members or staffing changes) bode well to share as a post as an update.
Informal Conversation streams:
Communication can also be conveyed in the form of images and pictures (confidently post your pictures and then head on to a gallery cleaner app). One of the key features of Currents is a stream. It enables users to carry on casual, non-business-related conversations. Amidst Covid-19, there are large numbers of organizations that support remote-working. Casual streams can assist individuals with interfacing shared interests in a manner that may somehow or another be troublesome. You can share anything related to your pastime or simply climate conversations that may normally be shared during casual breaks may be shared with Currents. Refer to the image below.
Support groups & communities:
Communities are a great way to build networks outside of your workspace. Currents offer a place to ask a question, initiate discussion threads based on specific topics, and request insights. That builds the odds that somebody with experience or aptitude may answer – regardless of whether they’re not in your workgroup.
Another powerful way to deal with utilizing Currents is to make your (or your team’s work) more obvious to others in the organization. You can share news about your group’s novel project, how you solved a work-related problem in a venture, or just post something you find fascinating.
At the point when numerous individuals in an association use Currents for previously mentioned classifications, the application can help straighten formal constructions and make a culture that gives a welcoming space to everyone.
Next, Currents Content executives may add tags, make streams and add leaders. Transfer labels to make it simpler for individuals to add and discover presents related to repeating areas of wide interest, like #StaffingNews or #TechTips.
Make streams to give explicit spots to particular sorts of data, e.g., a stream for new worker presentations, a stream for conversations about home office arrangements, streams for suppliers’ information, or streams for discussions about customers. Ensure there is at any rate one stream that energizes casual social sharing.
Engage, connect, communicate – that’s the mantra of Google Currents.
Why not utilize another Workspace application?
When individuals discover that Currents exists, I additionally as a rule need to address a progression of inquiries as individuals acknowledge Google Workspace offers more than one correspondence channel.
Individuals may ask, “Why not simply email everybody?” Well, email is a brilliant method to share immediate, private data; however, it is not exactly ideal approach to energize an expansive, public conversation.
At that point they recollect, “Aren’t Google Groups accessible?” Yes, Groups are accessible, however, without a significant degree of interest, individuals regularly tend either to disregard or to withdraw from Group messages.
Individuals especially sensitive to Google’s item delivers at that point regularly ask, “Google Chat is for groups, right? Shouldn’t something be said about Rooms in Chat?” My answer is that Chat and Rooms are by and large best considered as ways for either people or groups zeroed in on explicit errands to share thoughts, conversations, or records.
Flows keep conversations out of inboxes, while likewise making those discussions accessible to a wide scope of individuals across an association.
Bottom Line
Google Currents is an amazing platform that encourages formal, non-formal as well as casual communications (don’t forget to share your pet’s story or post about your last meet-up – it’s all allowed and it won’t hurt the decorum of the application – surely). It facilitates organizations for effective and smooth exchange of information either to a small group of people or to the company-wide correspondence.
