Google this week released a new more "social" version of its online Google Apps suite.
The new Google Apps Team Edition consists of the standard Google applications, but it adds a twist: upon logging in, users are asked to identify other users in their organization and invite them to also use Google Apps. With this simple process, users can share calendars or documents with others, making Google Apps a groupware tool more than an individual office suite.
Depending on how your small biz works, this is either a great step forward -- or an IT nightmare. Lightweight collaboration is crucial for most small organizations, but once small businesses get to the point where they need some level of IT support and control, simply letting users virally sign-up for a new application may do more harm than good.
For Google, a viral approach is in line with all their social application initiatives, in which the real power of Web applications come from growing the "social graph" of users that make use of it.
