Google Groups

Google Groups

Google Groups is a free discussion group platform from Google that allows people to have online conversations by email or on the web. It offers public and private groups to foster communication between specific teams, organizations, or wider interest-based communities.
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email web groups communities conversations

Google Groups: Free Discussion Platform

A free discussion group platform from Google allowing online conversations by email or on the web, with public and private groups for teams, organizations, or interest-based communities.

What is Google Groups?

Google Groups is a discussion group platform offered by Google at no cost. It provides the ability for people to have conversations and discussions by email or directly through a web interface. Groups can be public where anyone can view the content or private where participation requires admin approval.

Some key features of Google Groups include:

  • Create and participate in topic-focused online groups that function through email or web forums
  • Public groups allow anyone to access content, while private groups require admin approval to join
  • Customizable group settings like post moderation, branding, layouts and more
  • File storage and photo sharing capabilities
  • Integration with other Google services like Google Drive and Google Calendar

Google Groups aims to help teams, organizations, communities and special interest groups foster communication and collaboration. Both work teams and casual organizations use it for discussions that don't require real-time back-and-forth. The platform consolidates conversations into an organized online group space rather than long email chains.

Overall, Google Groups provides a flexible, free online group communication system to have text-based conversations over email and the web. It enables information sharing between all group members through threaded discussions and shared file repositories.

Google Groups Features

Features

  1. Email based discussion groups
  2. Web based discussion forums
  3. Public and private groups
  4. File sharing
  5. Email digest options
  6. Moderation tools
  7. APIs for integration
  8. Mobile apps

Pricing

  • Free

Pros

Free to use

Integrates with other Google services

Good spam filtering

Feature rich

Scales to large groups

Good search

Cons

No video chat

Limit on attachment sizes

No native apps

Email delivery can be slow

Limited customization options

No user segmentation


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