Persistant Chat: Time is right to try group chat

We’ve been using a free trial of the the new Campfire group chat software the past week after being encouraged by this post from Lars Plougmann’s Mind This about the rise of ‘persistent chat’ (in particular Reuters Messaging and 37signals’ Campfire).

For a team of users who have specific topics (or project subtasks, etc) to discuss/explore it makes good sense to use a tool like this to reduce email clutter. Campfire is browser based and archives the chats in a simple, intuitive manner. Rooms are created for specific topics and documents can be uploaded for sharing among members. Guests can be invited (and granted access) to a particular room for a limited time (they cannot see the earlier transcripts) and this access expires or is revoked. There are a few other simple rights/functions that are available (inlcuding off-the-record chats using ‘locked’ chat rooms that are not archived) but overall it follows the simplicity/usefulness formula of other 37signals products (like BaseCamp and BackPack).

If you have a project, or some shared interest you want to expore with a few others, give it a spin (it’s a 30-day free trial). If you upgrade to a monthly account (starting at $12 and going up to $49, based on the number of members chatting simultaneously and storage space) the transcripts/etc are saved in the new paid account (nothing is lost).Campfire: http://www.campfirenow.com/index.html
37signals: http://www.37signals.com/