Google+ is back!
Google shut down down the failed social network earlier this month, but has decided to let Google+ live on as Google Currents — a reborn product that's still going to compete with Facebook.
Google Currents will focus on enterprise, giving employees a place to share knowledge and discuss things internally. It's primary competitors are Facebook's “Workplace” and Microsoft's “Yammer.”
For the most part, Currents looks exactly like Google+ and is now Google's second big enterprise communication tool. Google also has Google Hangout Chat, its Slack competitor.
Google+ came on the scene in 2011 as a competitive answer to Facebook proper, but it never really took off with users. A 2018 data leak that affected 5K users was the nail in the coffin for Google+.
Funny enough, this is not even the first time Google has named a product “Currents.” Currents was previously used for a magazine app that came before Google Play Newsstand, which was eventually replaced by Google News.
Google Currents also joins a long list of social enterprise tools. There's Zoho Connect, Basecamp, Monday, Winio and ActiveCollab for syncing on ongoing projects (to name a few). There's LumApps for a social 'intranet.' There's Front for sharing your inbox. There's Roadmap for planning sprints. And many, many more.