Social media giant Facebook has begun testing a pilot project dubbed “Facebook at Work” with its partners. The app will be visible in iOS and Android App Stores and accessible to pilot partners only.
According to the company, 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. Co–workers can stay in touch with each other in the same way they stay in touch with friends and family via Facebook: Facebook at Work offers the familiar look and feel as Facebook and has the same tools.
Facebook at Work was created completely for use within a company – that means employees’ Facebook at Work info is, according to the social network, safe, secure, confidential and completely separate from their personal Facebook profile. The info shared among employees is only accessible to people in the company.
Patrick Rusby, Research Analyst at Analysys Mason raises his concerns for the upcoming pilot project:
According to Rusby: “Facebook at Work has the potential to be a disruptive force in the enterprise social network market. Increasingly enterprises are adopting technologies that are first used by their employees outside of work, as was the case with smartphones. Facebook itself has features which would appeal as part of an enterprise social network (such as instant messaging, link and document sharing, presence and integration with a wide range of devices).”
Rusby also reveals that Facebook at Work will need to provide an email service (or integration with existing email clients), integration with existing scheduling/calendar platforms and a sensible file management system in order to be taken seriously in this space, but these could be solved.
Monetisation is an interesting point here, Rusby states. “Due to privacy/confidentiality issues relating to internal company communications, this will need to be a paid for service, as enterprises will not accept adverts being pushed at them based on the content of internal, private discussions.”
“This is unlikely to be a huge new revenue stream on its own, given that it would be competing with Yammer, which is well established in this space. However, this would be a new, recurring revenue stream, and it would put Facebook in front of people for more of the day, which may serve to increase engagement with Facebook in general,” concludes Rusby.
Darryl Linington
