Managing a small remote team means constantly navigating communication overload. At one point, if I wasn't dealing with inbox infinity, I was dealing with Slack—digging through an endless list of channels, trying to find important messages buried between casual chatter. Needless to say, I was drowning in notifications.
Then a fellow small business owner threw me a lifeline: he suggested I use Campsite. It's the same team communication tool Buffer's remote-first team uses.
It's been six months since our team transitioned to Campsite, and it's safe to say that it's enabled us to engage in more meaningful discussions without the usual headaches that come with asynchronous communication.
Here are the nine Campsite features I use to simplify team communication.
Table of contents:
What is Campsite?
Campsite is a team chat app designed for asynchronous work. It de-emphasizes the need to respond to messages immediately and encourages users to post updates, share progress, and start discussions when it makes sense for them.
9 Campsite features to help you simplify team communication
Here are the nine Campsite features that have consistently helped my team stay in sync. I've organized them based on which ones made the greatest impact on our communication, but you should pick and choose the features that make the most sense for you.
1. Home feed
The Home feed is my command center. It aggregates activity from across all my Campsite channels and groups them into one of three views:
For me shows posts that require my input.
Created shows posts I've made.
All shows every team update.
This simple consolidation of posts makes it easy to quickly scan through posts and comments, respond to team questions, and check general announcements without needing to monitor multiple channels.
2. Channels
Think of Campsite channels as dedicated spaces for different projects or areas of focus. For my team, I've set up three main channels:
General for team-wide announcements.
LinkedIn Content for social media updates.
Lead Management for tracking potential clients.
You can also control who's able to join and view your channels by setting it to Public or Private.
Need to quickly pull up a doc that someone shared in a channel? Click Docs in the menu at the top of the channel, and you'll find every doc that was shared. The same goes for posts and calls—click Posts or Calls in the top menu to find what you need faster.
3. Posts
Posts are Campsite's primary format for in-depth discussions. The preset format encourages you to write a thoughtful message (instead of laying down a stream of consciousness) before hitting send. Not ready to publish? Save it as a draft.
You also have the option to request specific feedback on your post, which I really appreciate. It's what helps our team move from sharing only what's happening to generating in-depth discussions and actionable feedback.
Posts remain visible until marked as resolved so that important updates are easily accessible for ongoing reference.
4. Comments and replies
Beyond organized channels and posts, Campsite's comments and replies build a structured way for conversations to evolve over time, showing relevant feedback, changes, and reasoning—all in one thread.
I see this in action daily with our content creation process. For example, when a teammate posts an update, I, along with the rest of my team, can leave feedback as a comment. Others can continue to comment or reply to specific comments, creating threads. Either way, it ensures all messages are contained within the relevant post.
Or, if we're reviewing a document in Campsite, the document will appear next to the comments in a split-screen view. The result: we can have focused conversations without losing sight of the original context.
5. Direct messages and calls
Sometimes, all you need is a quick answer. Campsite's direct messaging provides just that. You get the benefits of both async flexibility and real-time immediacy in an easy-to-use interface.
For moments when a quick back-and-forth isn't enough, you can hop on a call using Campsite—no need to toggle to yet another app. If the call is recorded, Campsite automatically generates a transcript and AI summary so you can reference it later on or share with absent team members.
6. AI summaries
Campsite calls aren't the only things that get the AI treatment. Campsite also uses AI to automatically create summaries of team discussions. Every post gets an AI-generated summary capturing key points, decisions, and next steps.
The AI summary also captures how the conversation evolved from the initial post to feedback to refinement. It's yet another way Campsite allows me to stay on top of what's going on without having to scroll through irrelevant chatter.
7. Follow-ups
Sometimes I'll review a post that needs my attention or warrants a response, but I don't have time right then and there to do it. In these instances, I use Campsite's follow-up feature to remind me to revisit it later on. For quick and urgent updates, I might set a 20-minute reminder. For more substantial work, I might schedule a follow-up for the next day when I'm fresh.
These reminders then appear in my Updates tab, making it easy to track what needs my attention and when.
8. Resolution system
Every Campsite post includes a Resolve button. If that post has been wrapped up—the topic has been addressed or the required action has been taken—click Resolve to mark the discussion as complete.
Once resolved, a green badge that reads Resolved will appear next to the parent post in your Home feed, so you can quickly glean what posts have been addressed and what still needs your attention.
9. Rich text documents
My team and I use documents to collaborate on long-form content. Sure, we could do this in a separate note-taking app, but I'm all about keeping everything in one place. Campsite offers built-in docs, complete with a rich text editor, so you can draft content and maintain living documents without leaving the app.
Since Campsite docs are integrated with the app, it's that much easier to share them across channels and pin important ones for quick access.
Campsite vs. Slack: How does Campsite stack up?
The biggest advantage of Campsite is its focus on asynchronous communication. Instead of defaulting to quick chat messages that scroll away, Campsite encourages more thoughtful discussions through posts.
But Campsite isn't perfect. For example, it relies on a progressive web app, resulting in a clunkier experience than Slack's polished apps. There's also no free plan. But I justified the cost by considering how much time my team wasted searching for information in Slack or having to repeat conversations because important messages got buried. The improved organization and reduced communication overhead made the price worth it for us.
Despite some of Campsite's flaws (which I hope will improve down the road), the switch has been well worth it.
Automate Campsite
While Campsite packs a mean punch, there's a good chance you still rely on other apps to get your work done. Use Zapier to connect Campsite with the rest of your apps and create automated systems for your work. Automatically do things like schedule Campsite posts and get updates from other apps in Campsite. Here are some pre-made templates to get you started.
Schedule daily posts in Campsite with every day event in Schedule by Zapier
Send messages in Campsite when new pull requests are created in GitHub
"create new Campsite comments from new Google Forms form responses"
Zapier is the leader in workflow automation—integrating with thousands of apps from partners like Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft. Use interfaces, data tables, and logic to build secure, automated systems for your business-critical workflows across your organization's technology stack. Learn more.
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