Facebook is launching a new solution for businesses called Facebook at Work. The new product is designed to let businesses create their own social networks.
Competing directly with Microsoft’s Yammer, Facebook at Work will let employers create their own social networks for their employees on the Facebook platform that everyone is familiar with.
If your business is lacking collaboration adoption, this might just be the solution you need. With many businesses struggling to get their employers to use new products like Yammer, Facebook at Work may encourage your team to embrace online collaboration because it is a platform they already know how to use.
How does it work?
It will work very much like Facebook, but in a private, employee-only environment. Employers can create logins for their employees to use with their work account or employees can link their work accounts with their existing personal profiles.
When will it be available?
Facebook has already launched the new Facebook at Work app in the app stores. But not everyone will be able to access it yet; businesses with over 100 employees can learn how to set up their accounts here.
Facebook’s Lars Rasmussen, the engineering director at Facebook, says the debut in the app store is the first step. “We’re putting the app into the app stores so that we can begin testing the product,” he noted.
Over the next 6-12 months, we will see more businesses trialing and using the platform. In 12 months’ time, I’m predicting it will be open to businesses of any size.
Is it a game changer for team collaboration?
Facebook thinks it is. They have been using a variation of Facebook at Work internally for 10 years. Rasmussen says that Facebook’s own employees have been using it to communicate with each other, pass on news, plan meetings and share documents.
“Facebook at Work’s strength is that we’ve spent 10 years and incorporated feedback from 1 billion active users,” he says. “All of that is embedded now in the same product, but adapted for different use cases.”
“When Mark [Zuckerberg, the CEO,] makes an announcement he just posts it on Facebook at Work,” Rasmussen says.
How much does it cost?
Facebook hasn’t released any pricing information yet. Reports on Techcrunch speculate a two-tier pricing model with a free version supported by advertising and an ad-free version for businesses that want to pay.
Finally, a collaboration tool your employees want to use
I predict this product will help businesses enable their employees to work more collaboratively with each other.
By giving your team an easy tool that they already know how to use, you may be able to finally see the benefits of team collaboration inside your business.
Do you want to use Facebook at Work inside your organisation? Contact us today and we'll help you sign up and get started.