Giving group chat a go

A friend of mine recently told me that she used group chat in Gmail for the first time the other day. She was talking to two coworkers about a new project and essentially serving as a go-between. Her solution: make it one conversation.

When she told me about this, I couldn't believe this was the first time she used group chat, which we launched in November. I've used group chat a ton, and find it especially useful for coordinating social plans with friends. I try not to do as much back-and-forth emailing to work out plans anymore. I just invite my friends to a group chat and iron out details -- it's much faster.

So in case you haven't seen it yet, you can add a person to any Gmail chat by clicking "Options" in the chat window and then "Group chat." Then start typing the person's name or email, and you'll get contacts auto-complete just like when you compose messages.