It seems counterintuitive – how can you make a version of Facebook that doesn’t make people less productive at work?
Well, after ten years of Facebook testing out its Facebook at Work platform at its own offices during the workday (we know, meta), they’ve finally started rolling out the product to the public.
As of now, it’s only an app for your phone, currently being tested with a select group of companies, and is only available for iPhone and Android users.
The app allows workers to have a separate Facebook account for work that is completely different than their personal one – meaning there is much less risk of letting your boss see those embarrassing photos of you from college.
But the main purpose of the app isn’t to separate your work life from your personal life so much as it is Facebook’s attempt to own the new wave of social networking happening at work.
Competing apps like Slack, Convo, Yammer, and Socialcast started a trend of workplace collaboration via social chat groups, and this is Facebook’s attempt to own the market.
Businesses with 100 or more employees that were already using Facebook Groups as their internal chatrooms were selected to participate in this pilot project.
Facebook at Work looks and works the same as your personal Facebook, newsfeed and all, but it’s not linked to your personal Facebook account unless you choose to link it. And even by linking the two, that doesn’t allow any crossover of your personal information into the Work version, and vise-versa – so your sensitive work information will never end up somehow on your personal Facebook account.
Will it become the widely used business network Facebook hopes for? Time will tell, but with the ongoing struggle between users to maintain their privacy on Facebook – it would seem odd for major businesses to trust it as their go-to virtual work room.
You just never know what Facebook could do with all your employees’ great ideas…
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