Apps didn't use it because it wasn't practical or in high demand yet. People were just getting used to checking email and most people were only intermittently online via dial up. Collaborative apps would take another 8 or 9 years to really start to take off.
We had T-1 internet to every desk in ‘94 and I used dozens of networking apps from archie to veronica. Probably used CU SeeMe before a browser. Though Mosaic dropped around that time.
Advanced collaboration still in the future, this era was more like chat and file transfer. I think you could mark up Word docs from a network drive at some point.