Ever use Facebook for work-related purposes only to get distracted by photos from last weekend or links to Buzzfeed articles? Well so have other employees at U.S. companies, leading to frequent restrictions on the use of Facebook in the workplace.
In an attempt to give the social media network a more workplace-friendly reputation, Facebook is creating a site, called Facebook at Work, so you can uh… use Facebook at Work. According to the Financial Times, the new site will look similar to regular Facebook, with a newsfeed, groups and chat. However, it will allow you to keep your personal profile separate from your professional profile. It will have networking features similar to LinkedIn, as well as a space for shared documents and other software that is useful in the office. Like regular Facebook, it is likely that Facebook at Work will be free to the public and collect its revenue from advertisers.
Facebook employees have been using Facebook at Work for years as a business networking and organizational tool. In the recent years, Facebook has frequently discussed expanding and marketing the product to other companies. The project to do so officially began last year and gained momentum since, although it was not reported by the media until June. The site is currently being further developed by engineers in London.
Facebook has not specified a release date. When Facebook at Work is released to the public, it will be competing against websites such as existing corporate social networks Yammer and LinkedIn. The new website will also challenge companies such as Microsoft Outlook, Google Drive and Dropbox, all of which are used as tools in the office.
Of course, that all depends on whether Facebook’s latest venture becomes a success. In recent years, Facebook has come under criticism over data mining and privacy concerns (in partial response, Facebook has recently revised its privacy policy to make it simpler to understand). So, the company must convince its audience that their confidential documents will remain private through the new networking site.
