Simple group chat

Looking for a really simple and inexpensive group chat solution to allow your employees, contractors, consultants, and even customers to share information and interact in real time?  Then check out a product from 37signals called Campfire.

Campfire is a web-based group chat tool that allows multiple people to chat, like in a normal IM session.  But the real strength of Campfire is that chat participants can upload and share files, images, and all users can access the uploaded content in real-time.  Transcripts for the chat sessions are saved and can be reviewed later.

Campfire is ridiculously easy to use, and the pricing plans start at $12/month to support up to 12 simultaneous chatters.  There is even a free plan that allows 4 people to use Campfire at the same time, (with a smaller file size upload limitation).

I have used Campfire to quickly organize group brainstorming sessions, especially ones in which the contents of a document needed to be discussed.  It is a great tool, and you should check it out if trying to get teams working together more efficiently.