Social media makes it easier than ever to connect with millions of people around the globe. But with the rise of this vast online community comes the need for smaller-scale connections. A number of apps for group collaboration and connection have emerged to fill that need. Nextdoor, Slack, and Yammer are just a few examples of this “small social” movement.
With over 925 million monthly users, Facebook Groups is probably the most commonly-used tool for small-scale online communities. Now, Google thinks it has come up with something better.
“Group conversations often don’t stay on topic, and things get lost in endless threads that you can’t easily get back to when you need them,” Google said in a blog post Monday. “We wanted to build a better group sharing experience, so we made a new app called Spaces that lets people get people together instantly to share around any topic.”
Space integrates other Google properties like Google Search, YouTube, and Chrome. The company is betting on its powerful search capabilities, which allow Spaces users to pull up articles, videos, comments, and even images.
Google is rolling out Spaces on iOS, Android, desktop, and mobile web for all Gmail accounts today.
The company also plans to experiment with the app at its annual Google I/O conference this week. Each session will have its own space, where developers can connect and experience “a few surprises too.”
The app looks powerful at first glance, but will it be enough to take a bite out of Facebook’s market share? We all remember the last time Google went head to head with Facebook.