We know about some of Google’s other attempts at making a chat service. There’s Google Allo, Google Chat, and Google Hangouts just to name a few. Of those, Google Chat is still active, but it’s not as well-known as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.

Google Talk will officially be dead by the end of the week

People who knew what Google Talk was would have, most likely, assumed that the service was snuffed out years ago. The company shifted gears on its messaging platforms multiple times since Google Talk’s reign. However, the service has been running ever since 2005. AS tried and true as Google Talk is, it’s soon to be dead. Google just announced via a blog post that the service is going to end on June 16th. That doesn’t give people much time to switch over. In all honesty, there shouldn’t really be a large user base for this service. We can’t deny that there will be some people left in the dark when the plug is officially pulled, but there are other avenues to take.

What was Google Talk?

Back in 2005, online instant message clients were all the rage as the internet was becoming more of a necessity. Google wanted a way for people with Gmail accounts to seamlessly communicate with one another. This is where Google Talk came in. The service worked similarly to Google Chat. You would use your internet browser and log into your Google account. At that point, you’d send text or voice messages to other people in your contacts. It was one of the services that beat sending emails back and forth.

So, what next?

If you’re an avid Google Talk user, your days are numbered, unfortunately. However, if you don’t want to be left out of the loop, you can make the transition to Google Chat. It’s, obviously, a Google product, so you’ll most likely be able to communicate with others if they have a Google account. You only need to go to the Google chat site, and you should be ready to go. If you want to use your phone to message, then you can just get the mobile app for the service.