Facebook is launching a new app, Facebook at Work, which aims to expand its presence within the business community. It is positioning itself as a challenger to LinkedIn and other established collaboration tools targeted at businesses, such as Yammer, Jive and MangoApps.
So what is the new Facebook app really meant to do? Facebook says the software is designed to provide a way for users to communicate; it offers an alternative to email and other intranet systems. Facebook says information posted within the service will be kept "secure, confidential and completely separate" from personal Facebook profiles. In a statement they said that "Facebook at Work is a separate experience that gives employees the ability to connect and collaborate efficiently using Facebook tools - many that they're likely already using such as News Feed, Groups, messages and events, .… The information shared among employees is only accessible to people in the company." A spokeswoman added: "Internally at Facebook we've been using our product for years, and we're now looking forward to the feedback from our pilot partners to create the best possible experience."
Facebook already has about 1.4 billion people using its platform at least once a month, but it is currently blocked in some workplaces. One advantage it could have over rival work communication tools is that people are already familiar with the way it works, meaning firms could save on training costs. Others see it as a possible way of improving employee communications because of complaints that a deluge of messages has made email a poor tool to keep in touch with. For now, the Facebook at Work app is free-to-use, but limited to an unnamed group of companies that will trial its use.
At this stage the work version does not feature adverts, nor will it gather data about its users that could be sold on to third parties. However, Facebook has said that it is too early discuss future plans around ads or monetisation. In my view it is inevitable that advertising will happen. Facebook must have worked out how they are going to monetize the app; why else would they be investing considerable time and resources in order to build it? The heading on the home page of Facebook for Business says in large bold text “Find new customers. Boost sales” so it is clear who they are targeting and what it is for. Check it out yourself at https://www.facebook.com/business
