Want to know about Spaces?

Want to know about Spaces?
Check this out!

Originally shared by Oleg Moskalensky

Google Spaces - a #SPECzone exclusive
some use cases

This post is specifically for Peggy K, although you may find it useful, even if you're not Peggy K ;)

Peggy asked for some uses of Google Spaces and to be frank - they're pretty vast, I'll mention a few in the comments below, with accompanying photos and explanation, something that's actually quite a bit easier to do in Spaces than G+

Google Spaces is a pretty simple app, although quite powerful if used creatively, and, unfortunately, it's half-baked at the moment (sorry Luke Wroblewski, I call them as I see them).

Here's the rundown of the GOOD:
The app allows you to invite anyone (ie, not just Google users) with a simple link. The invitee can join the Space, if they wish, or ignore the invite. Anyone who joins becomes a member of that Space and has full access to all of the features and gets notified using standard Google Notifications (similar to G+).

You can run the app on desktops, as well as mobile devices, with full sync between all of them. Even though the interface is somewhat different between mobile and desktop - it's pretty easy to get used to and use the app anywhere, across devices and platforms.

If you understand the basics of G+ Communities - you understand the Spaces as well then. It's very similar. You have a group of people who can participate, these people can create posts and they can also reply to posts. The posts can be created as text or as images or as videos and even links. The replies can also utilize text, images, videos and links. Until recently - there were no image/link/video responses on G+, but Spaces had it from the get go.

Any activities in Spaces are fully logged and shown on the right side panel, showing the member who did something and details of what they did. The activities have a slightly different background to easily indicate which ones you've seen and which you haven't.

There's also a handy fly-out bar on the desktop version that enables one to easily create a new Space post using the URL of the web page you're on with just a couple of clicks, making acquisition of posts from the web very simple. On the mobile version - you can easily share any content to Spaces via the usual share approach.

That's pretty much it as far as the functionality goes. Again, simplicity and ease of entry and use is what makes Google Spaces an excellent candidate for use. As for specifics of what to use it for - that's up to you and your creativity.

Before I post some of the examples of how I use it (in comments below) - I want to address the question of why one wouldn't just use Google+ Communities instead of Spaces, ie why another app if it's very similar?

The reason is simple - simplicity! It's a lot more effort (read: time) to set up a new community, and create categories and customize settings and invite people. Posting to it would require selecting the proper category and going through bunch of clicks etc. With Spaces it's far simpler and quicker, enabling you to create many at will. Would you want to abandon Communities then? No, I think each has its place. If you need segregation of information by categories, if you need to have moderation in place - Communities are the only way to go. Spaces has no such abilities.

That takes us to the BAD:
Currently Spaces has zero moderations capabilities. In other words, if someone joins a Space (remember, all they need is a link, which is both a blessing and a curse at the same time) - they can wreak havoc and ruin your Space. The only thing you can do is destroy the original link and have Spaces generate new one for you. Then you relay it to the 'good' members and move on. Simple doesn't always mean good - so be careful who you invite to your Spaces, especially if you post the link in Public. In other words, any member of your Space can add content and delete content at will.

Spaces doesn't have ability to modify existing text. If you create a post - you can delete it, but you can't change it. That, in theory, shouldn't be a problem, except when it comes to replies - you can NOT delete replies, only entire posts. So, be careful what you write and how you reply, because you can't take it back or augment it (this, Luke Wroblewski, is a game breaker for me introducing Spaces to my clients).

And you can't rearrange posts and/or replies. They show up in the order entered and cast in stone. So, if you make a mistake and create something out of order - you would need to delete and reenter. With replies it's relatively easy, you just delete the post. But with posts themselves - impossible, short of recreating the entire Space again.

Conclusion
With the above stated - I still think that Spaces is a very useful app, you just need to be mindful of the above and careful which people you bring in to your Spaces, but as long as the members behave - it's an awesome tool, pretty much unmatched in capabilities and simplicity out there. For collaborating on projects of any kind, with a small group of people - it's superb.

But, again, I can't recommend it for widespread use until they fix the BAD above. I was glad to see some updates on Spaces in the last few days (no limitations on text and easier invitations) - those are somewhat useful, but Google needs to get a grip and work on important stuff. These latest changes are nothing compared to what really needs to be fixed.

If you have any questions - drop me a line, I'll be happy to answer if I can.

I really hope Google addresses a few of the bad things I mentioned, because it really is a great app!

cc: a few folks that might like this - David Amerland, Mark Barrus, Mark Blinderman, Denis Labelle, Gregory R, Zara Altair, Gina Fiedel and Ben Moskalensky & Rita Moskalensky (for school stuff)