Right from the start, Google Spaces was a confused product. Was it a messaging app? Was it something like Pinterest but low key? Google simply said it was for “small group sharing” and we all agreed that was a cover for “just another group messaging alternative.”
I took Google’s word for it and, in a form of experimentation, created a “space” for my peers in the tech blogging space (see what I did there?). It was active for a while as we ranted, shared links to articles and spoke about just about anything under the sun. Then it died. Everyone went quiet. We all went back to WhatsApp. And Telegram. I uninstalled the app not long after. Long story short, the last activity in our small “space” for Kenyan tech bloggers was way back in June last year.
If anything, then that was a sign that we weren’t alone. No one else was using Spaces as Google had hoped they would and, maybe, it had become just one big space. So it is not really surprising to learn that Google will soon be shuttering Spaces.
An update by the Spaces support team informs users that Spaces will be entering a read-only mode next week (on March 3rd) and eventually closing its doors forever mid next month (on April 17th).
RIP Spaces. Say hi to Orkut and Google Wave when you get to the other world.
