Tag Archives: Google Plus

Currents to become generally available on July 6, 2020, replacing Google+ for G Suite

What’s changing

At Google Cloud Next in 2019, we launched Currents in beta. On July 6, 2020, we’ll make it generally available to G Suite customers.

If your domain is currently participating in the Currents beta, your experience will remain the same. If your domain uses Google+, you’ll be automatically upgraded to Currents, which has an updated look and feel and provides additional features for users and administrators.

Please note that starting on July 6, users will not be able to opt out of Currents or revert back to Google+.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

Currents offers a more streamlined experience that makes it easy for employees to have meaningful discussions across an organization and to view suggestions for useful and timely content. It provides users access to new features, including custom streams and tags. In addition, Currents allows super admins to enable content moderation and administrative privileges for specific users in their organization.

Additional details

If you’re currently participating in the Currents beta, your experience will remain the same. If your organization uses Google+, however, you can expect the following as you transition to Currents:

  • Starting July 6, 2020, your users and all of your organization’s existing Google+ content will be automatically transitioned to Currents. Your users will have no option to revert back to Google+.
  • The Currents Android and iOS apps will replace the Google+ Android and iOS apps, which will no longer be supported. Users will be prompted to upgrade to the new Currents app to continue to use the service on mobile; those who have auto-update enabled will be automatically upgraded.
  • All existing links to plus.google.com will continue to work—users will automatically be redirected to currents.google.com.
  • In the days prior to the switch, users may see a banner in Google+ notifying them of the launch and providing links to relevant Help Center content.


Getting started




Rollout pace




Availability


  • Available to all G Suite customers


Resources




Roadmap


Embed Google+ search streams in new Google Sites

What’s changing 

You can now embed a stream of posts from a Google+ search in the new Google Sites. This search could contain simple keywords or advanced search operators.

This builds on our previous launch, which helped you embed community pages, profiles, and other Google+ streams in new Sites.

Who’s impacted 

End users

Why you’d use it 

When you embed a stream from G+, users will see the exact same content, whether they’re viewing it on plus.google.com or within an embedded module in a Sites page. They’ll also be able to interact with the content, and have that interaction show in both locations. This can help you create more engaging sites with dynamic and collaborative content from Google+.

By embedding a stream from a Google+ search, you could embed posts from specific people, or you can embed a Google+ stream that aggregates posts from multiple G+ communities. Users will be able to see the content and interact with it if they choose.

How to get started 




Helpful links 

Help Center: Add Google files, video & more to Google Sites 

Availability 

Rollout details 
G Suite editions 
Available to all G Suite editions
On/off by default? 
This feature will be ON by default
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Add users and Google Groups to domain-restricted Google+ Communities

We’re adding the ability to directly add users and Google Groups as members of Google+ Communities. When a moderator adds a group, group members are automatically added to the community. Subsequent updates to the group membership are automatically reflected in the community membership.

This feature is off by default. As a G Suite admin, you can turn it on for certain users, turn it on for certain organizational units (OUs), or turn it on for everyone in your domain.

To enable this setting for select users, open the Admin console and go to Admin Roles. After selecting the appropriate user role, click “Privileges” and scroll to "Google+,” where you can then configure the “Batch-add user groups to communities" privilege for that role.



If you’d like to enable this setting for an OU or everyone in your domain, in the Admin console go to Apps > G Suite > Google+ > Advanced Settings. Here, check the "Adding users directly" checkbox.



Please note: This feature will only be supported on domain-restricted communities. Additionally, users, groups, and group members that aren't part of the same domain as the community and users that have been banned from the community won't be added.

Check out the Help Center for more information on adding Google Groups to Google+ Communities.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins and all end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Allow owners or moderators to add users directly
Help Center: Moderate a Community

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Embed Google+ streams in the new Google Sites for more engagement

We’re making it easier to embed Google+ streams in the new Google Sites. This feature is a top request from users who want to create more interactive and engaging sites. The launch will help you:

  • Increase the social aspect of sites. Users can see all the posts, photos, comments, and other content that they’d see with the full G+ experience. 
  • Enable free-flowing communication. Users can add comments, +1s, and more to the G+ content directly from the site. 
  • Keep content fresh. Users can avoid duplicate content management by having G+ updates appear automatically in sites. 


How embedded G+ streams work 

You can embed many types of G+ post streams in your Google Sites pages. Specifically, you can embed a top-level community page, a community category page, a collection page, a search results page, or a G+ profile. Formatting of the G+ embed will automatically adjust to the width you set. Once it’s embedded, users can interact with posts just as they can on the full G+ experience. 

Permissions to see and interact with the stream are determined by whether users can see the content in G+. So if you embed from a private G+ community, only members of that community will be able to see the content on the site.

See our Help Center for more details on how to embed G+ streams in Google Sites.

Launch Details 
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions: 
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI 

More Information 
Help Center: Add Google files, video & more

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Google+ will no longer support Internet Explorer 10 in October 2018

Beginning on October 23, 2018, Internet Explorer 10 will no longer be a supported browser for use with Google+. Before this time, we recommend referring to the Help Center to ensure you’re using a supported browser for uninterrupted access to Google+.

For more information on supported browsers for all G Suite apps, refer to the Help Center.

Deprecation Details
Impact:
All end users using Internet Explorer 10

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Supported browsers for G Suite

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Subscribe to Highlights notifications for Google+ communities and collections

Google+ communities and collections help people connect around the things they’re interested in. To help you stay on top of these connections, we're adding more options for how often you're notified about new posts in the Google+ communities and collections to which you subscribe. Instead of getting all or no notifications, you can now opt to get "highlights" only.

When the highlights option is selected, we will send you a digest notification of the top posts from across all of your G+ communities and collections. This will help save you time and ensure you’re seeing the posts that matter most.



Learn more about Google+ settings in the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Google+ settings

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New Google+ community metrics for G Suite admins and community moderators

Earlier this year, we announced additions to Google+ metrics to better understand user activity and community-level metrics. We’re continuing this effort to manage Google+ communities by introducing Google+ community metrics, surfaced in two places: the Admin console and in the Google+ community dashboard.

Metrics for community owners and moderators

First, community owners and moderators can now see new membership and engagement statistics about their community using the new "Insights" tab. If they’d like more information on a particular metric, mousing over it will provide additional context to help with interpreting the data.



To access these insights, an owner or moderator can click on the “Manage” button (previously the “Moderate” button) and select the “Insights” tab.

Please note, this dashboard will only be available to owners and moderators of Google+ communities. For more information on moderating a Google+ community, please visit the Help Center.

Communities Report for admins

For G Suite administrators, we've also added the ability to see all communities owned by members of your organization, sortable by metrics such as total members, active members, number of posts recently made, and more. In this report, which can be found in the Admin console by going to Reports > Apps > Google+ > Communities report, you’ll also be able to see the community’s “Visibility,” indicating whether or not it’s restricted to your domain.



You can choose to view either the last seven or 30 days worth of data.

As with our previous reporting additions, these metrics are available in both the Admin console and Reports API.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users (Community insights metrics)
Admins only (Communities admin report)

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Moderate a community
Help Center: Moderate a communityGoogle+ community metrics

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8 swift steps G Suite admins can take to secure business data

(Cross-posted from The Keyword)

Security doesn’t have to be complicated. With G Suite, admins can manage and help protect their users with minimal effort because we've designed our tools to be intuitive—like Vault, which helps with eDiscovery and audit needs, and data loss prevention, which helps ensure that your “‘aha”’ moments stay yours. Here are some key security controls that you can deploy with just a few clicks to get more fine-grained control of your organization's security.

1. Enable Hangouts out-of-domain warnings
If your business allows employees to chat with external users on Hangouts, turn on a setting that will show warnings to your users if anyone outside of your domain tries to join a Hangout, and split existing group chats so external users can’t see previous internal conversations. This substantially reduces the risk of data leaks or falling prey to social engineering attacks. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Google Hangouts > Chat settings > Sharing options)


2. Disable email forwarding
Exercising this option will disable the automatic email forwarding feature for users, which in turn helps reduce the risk of data exfiltration in the event a user’s credentials are compromised. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Gmail > Advanced settings)



3. Enable early phishing detection
Enabling this option adds further checks on potentially suspicious emails prior to delivery. Early phishing detection utilizes a dedicated machine learning model that selectively delays messages to perform rigorous phishing analysis. Less than 0.05 percent of messages on average get delayed by a few minutes, so your users will still get their information fast. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Gmail > Advanced settings)


4. Examine OAuth-based access to third-party apps
OAuth apps whitelisting helps keep company data safe by letting you specifically select which third-party apps are allowed to access users’ G Suite data. Once an app is part of a whitelist, users can choose to grant authorized access to their G Suite apps data. This helps to prevent malicious apps from tricking people into accidentally granting access to corporate data. (Admin console > Security > G Suite API Permissions)


5. Check that unintended external reply warning for Gmail is turned on
Gmail can display unintended external reply warnings to users to help prevent data loss. You can enable this option to ensure that if your users try to respond to someone outside of your company domain, they’ll receive a quick warning to make sure they intended to send that email. Because Gmail has contextual intelligence, it knows if the recipient is an existing contact or someone your users interact with regularly, so it only displays relevant warnings. This option is on by default. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Gmail > Advanced settings)


6. Restrict external calendar
To reduce the incidence of data leaks, make sure that Google Calendar details aren’t shared outside your domain. Limiting sharing to “free” or “busy” information protects you from social engineering attacks that depend on gleaning information from meeting titles and attendees. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Calendar > Sharing settings)


7. Limit access to Google Groups
By setting default Google group access to private, you can limit external access to information channels that may contain confidential business information, like upcoming projects. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Groups for Business > Sharing settings)


8. Set Google+ access restrictions
Make the default sharing setting for Google+ restricted and disable discoverability of Google+ profiles outside your domain. Both of these actions can help you control access to critical business information. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Google+ > Advanced settings)





Every company has their own unique set of business requirements that need to work in rhythm with their security requirements. By evaluating and implementing some of these suggested security controls, you can make a marked difference in your company’s security posture—with just a few clicks. See this post for other security tips.


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Set restrictions on what content people interact with and share on Google+

Google+ is a great tool for helping employees discover and engage with external content that can be relevant to work. From an administrative perspective, we’ve heard from you that having more controls around content and commenting rights for your users would be helpful. That’s why today, we’re making this possible by adding new content restriction settings in Google+.

To change Google+ sharing settings for a specific organizational unit (OU), you can go to Apps > G Suite > Google+ > Advanced Settings in the Admin console, where you can first select the appropriate OU.



Depending on your preferences and the needs of the people in that OU, you can then pick one of three options:

  • Public Mode - View/comment on internal and external content. This mode allows G Suite users to view/share/interact with content that is both inside and outside of the domain. This is similar to how Google+ operates today. This mode is best for specific OUs (e.g. those used for outward-facing roles like marketing and support) who should be able to interact with customers and external partners via Google+.
  • Private Mode - View/comment on internal content only. This setting offers the most control over Google+ activity, as it restricts G Suite users to viewing/sharing/interacting with only people inside their domain. Please note, G Suite users can still view content outside of their domain if they get a direct link or had joined/followed an external community/person/collection prior to being placed into this mode.
  • Hybrid Mode - View external content (e.g. industry news), but only engage with it internally. This setting offers moderate control over Google+ activity, as it allows G Suite users to view content outside their domain, but only share/interact with it internally.
The table below outlines what G Suite users can do under each setting:


Since these settings can be customized at the OU level, you’ll have the opportunity to differentiate permissions. For example, you can use the Public setting only for OUs that need to interact with people outside of the domain, whether that be the support team, marketing team, or others in customer-facing roles.

For more information on the impact to user experiences at each level of this setting, please review this Help Center article.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Manage Google+ content sharing

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Find content and communities from all across Google+ with the new Discover stream

To help people using Google+ find the most relevant and useful conversations happening inside their companies, today we’re introducing a new Discover tab on iOS devices and the web.



Here they’ll find personalized recommendations of posts to see, people to know, and communities to join -- helping them stay in the loop on information being shared within your company.

Based on user feedback, we’ve also simplified tab navigation. With the addition of the Profile tab on mobile, it’s easier for people to reach their profile pages, where they can then quickly access their communities and collections. With this launch, we aim to make it easy for people to focus on what they’re interested in.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates