Home vs. homeless

Regular IM: There’s no destination.

IM works fine for one on one chats but where do you go to have a chat with a few co-workers or clients? You don’t go anywhere and that creates problems: 1) There’s a confusing invite process and no real destination. 2) If you close your chat window by mistake, you have to be invited again. 3) Once the chat is over, it disappears into the ether.

Campfire: Your group chat has a home.

Campfire chats have a permanent URL, just like a web page. That means you can get back into your chat at any time and easily invite others to join via email, IM, or a link at your site.

Persistence

Regular IM: You have to be there all the time.

Unless you keep your IM chat window open for weeks, once you close that window you’re out of the chat. You can’t get back to it. You can’t see what was said by others while you were gone.

Campfire: You can show up late or leave early and still not miss a thing.

Campfire chat rooms are always open. You can leave and come back at any time and you’ll always have access to what was said while you were gone. It’s a great way to catch up on a conversation if you’re on the road or out of town.

Network compatibility

Regular IM: Networks are incompatible.

What good is instant messaging if you’re on AOL Instant Messenger but your colleague or client is on Yahoo! Messenger? And what if you need to pull someone else in the chat who only uses MSN Messenger? Fuggetaboutit.

Campfire: Networks don’t matter.

Campfire rises above the network war. All you need to chat with Campfire is a web browser. Anyone with a web browser can participate in a group chat.

File sharing

Regular IM: File sharing is unreliable.

Trying to share files with co-workers and clients over standard IM works poorly, if at all. You often have to be on the same network and use the same chat software to get it to work. Annoying.

Campfire: File sharing works easily.

Campfire makes it dead simple to share files with co-workers and clients. Choose the file on your computer and upload it to a Campfire chat room. Everyone in the room now has instant access to the file. Piece of cake.

History and transcripts

Regular IM: Conversations and files disappear

Ever wish you could go back to that chat you had last Friday with a client? It’s possible with many IM software applications, but the process is often ugly, difficult, and/or confusing. And, if you aren't at your own computer you can't access the transcripts.

Campfire: Easy access to chat archives and transcripts.

Campfire makes going back in time dead simple. You can search through your chats by date, title, or person involved. You can even go back and see a list of all the files that were shared on a specific day. Plus Campfire's transcripts are web-based so you can get to them from any computer no matter where you are. Campfire’s got you covered.

Security

Regular IM: Your chats are not secure.

What business conversations are you putting out there in the open? Did you know that IM networks aren’t secure? IM can be a risky mode of communication and a lot of folks can’t afford to take that risk.

Campfire: Your chats are secure.

Campfire offers 128-bit SSL (the same level of security online banks use) on Plus and Premium plans. That’s security and peace of mind you simply can’t get over IM.