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Google Documents already had a place in my heart for the ease with which basic lists could be shared across devices and accounts with a complete audit trail.  The features were more than enough for almost any personal or business reason.

Then came word last week that Google Documents was integrating email and comments into “discussions”.  The concept is simple.  Using the @ function that is quickly becoming the standard in new media communications, people sharing documents can now have discussions about them.   Even better is the new “resolve” feature.   After a discussion inside Google Docs without resorting to long email threads that may not have brought everyone up to speed, the item can be marked as “resolved”.    And if the person you’re trying to reach doesn’t have the document shared with them, simply type the @ sign and their email address to bring them in.

Finis.   We’re done here.  On to the next issue or quit tangenting off and focus.

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because the discussion feature in Google Docs is an awful lot like the feature set in Google Wave.  The main difference is that Wave was built around an email box while this new discussion feature is built into the document, spreadsheet or slide deck.  The change of where this functionality is located creates an entirely new way to use docs.  We’ve written before about collaboration inside Google Docs when the ability to share a drawing was launched last year.  We suggested that was really the Google Whiteboard.

That was before seeing this new collaboration feature being used.  This is truly the Google  Whiteboard and a great example of a company repurposing its assets to enhance its service offerings.  With this, Google Apps continue to be the small business’ best friend.  Your takeaway as a small business leader is that Google may not only replace Microsoft Office, but can bring a new level of  collaboration to your operations by integrating partners, remote team members and even clients.

Have a look at the video and start thinking about how you can integrate discussions into your workflow.

 

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One of the most attractive characteristics of Google Chrome when it launched in 2009 was its speed.  Everyone I knew had already added enough plugins to Firefox to choke the browser as it tried to load.  Even worse, Firefox add-ons, which the industry now calls plugins or apps, were an integral part of the browser’s loading time.  A misbehaving program was enough to crash your browser, potentially losing work and certainly losing time.  By comparison, Google Chrome seemed mysteriously sleek, like a racehorse running on an empty track early in the morning.  Even better was the way Chrome handled crashes for its extensions, allowing one part of the program to crash while keeping the browser intact.

I vowed to never add so much baggage to Chrome to cause the program to lag.   And I’ve been fairly faithful, pruning unused extensions whenever they’re unused.  That cyber-take on the “stop sending the report and see who complains”  has kept Chrome running fast.   The time to launch Chrome on my system, the only one I care about, is about 3 seconds.   Firefox typically runs 5-6 seconds unless it’s updating an add-on, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was apparently tested for speed using a sundial.   That’s one takeaway for you as a small business leader:  it’s nice to know how software and machines perform in magazine testing, but you should ultimately care about how they perform in your office.

Since then, Big Thinking has published a list of must-have Google Chrome Extensions with a short explanation of each.  The list was divided last year into extensions for everyone and extensions for marketers, and that’s still a method that works well for me and readers who have commented.   Since the first list in December 2009, only StumbleUpon has been on the list each time, but the venerable page recommendation engine is on my endangered list because I know I’m not using the tool very often any longer.  Whether the lack of use is due to lack of time or burnout after years is irrelevant because it will be uninstalled if still aboard Chrome when it’s time for this summer’s list.

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Facebook is for people you used to know. LinkedIn is for people from work. And Twitter is for people you want to know.

That was the secret sauce of connection types using social media from television guru Jerry Ferguson at Fairfax County’s Channel 10.  We shared a laugh over it at the time, but as I continued using all three, they did seem to cluster that way.   There is overlap, of course, and a broom closet full of sweeping generalizations, but there is a lot of truth there too. Jerry’s joke, shared during a committee meeting for a non-profit, made me think a lot about the way we use web services.

Reviewing The Social Network on a movie site we run, I wrote that it’s no longer enough to simply say that Google is the cluster of sites providing us utility (searches, email, maps, data) while Facebook is the site that provides fun (chats, messaging, games, apps). Both companies are fascinating because of their attempts to diversify. Facebook already is a substantial search engine in its own right and is rumored to have a new communications platform ready to roll.  Google, meanwhile, is supposedly hard at work on socializing the organization even more after the failures of the standalone Orkut and integrated Buzz.

All of this brought my thinking to Big Thinking for Small Business and what this blog might be used for.  I talked with coaches and developers, equity holders and designers.  The issue really boils down to the audience for this blog, which is something Sara and I thought was defined a long time ago. We don’t want to be your breaking news source although we will tell you when there is online marketing news that might change your organization.  And we don’t want to be a how-to primer either.  Many good sites do both things well.

Instead, Big Thinking for Small Business is intended for the very people Silver Beacon Marketing serves–small businesses and non-profits.  We write for our clients, partners and corporate friends. We write about search engines, online marketing, advertising and even some things that can help you earn more profit. Starting March 1, we’ll integrate even more with Facebook and use their commenting section.  We’ll feature more guest bloggers, more reference pieces, more academic work and more content that will help you run your business. Our WordPress tutorials, previously open just for clients, will be open to everyone. We believe that any business can effectively compete in any market in the world.  Read along with us and we’ll show you how.   This is the next iteration of the Big Thinking for Small Business blog, Big Thinking 2.0 if you will, and we look forward to your comments and guidance on how it can help your organization.

Image: Shannon David French