Google is closing down Spaces, a little-known messaging and content sharing service.
Launched back in May last year, Spaces aimed to make sharing content from the Internet within small groups easier. The app, available on iOS, Android and through the web, allowed users to create a “space” for interesting topics, of which other users could be invited to join.
Once a member, content can be shared through the group without the need to switch between apps to copy and paste links due to included search functions, YouTube, and Chrome extensions.
However, according to a Spaces help page, Google Spaces will shut down permanently on 17 April, 2017.
In what the company calls a “tough decision,” the choice has been made to close the service, which will become read-only on 3 March. This means that users will no longer be able to create new spaces, posts or comments, and new invitations cannot be sent. In this archive stage, no new members will be accepted.
Between now and 17 April, existing users will be able to view, print and delete their content; delete any spaces they have created or leave spaces they have joined, and remove other users from their spaces.
In addition, abuse reports will remain active until the cut-off date, in which Spaces and all existing content will be deleted by Google.
Back in July, Google acquired collaboration and link management startup Kifi to bolster the Spaces team and the service’s capabilities. It doesn’t seem the additional support was enough to keep the project rolling, however — especially when much of the same functionality Spaces offered was already on the market thanks to other messaging apps and social network chat options.
“Our goal with Spaces was to create a better small-group sharing experience, and we’ll use what we’ve learned to improve other Google products and services,” the Spaces team said. “Thanks again for your support.”
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Article source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-kills-off-spaces-messaging-app/