Facebook is developing a professional website. Will workers and companies embrace it?
by Frank Kalman
November 18, 2014
Come January, workers may not have to feel guilty about looking at Facebook at work.
That's because, according to a report this week from The Wall Street Journal, the social networking company is launching a workplace collaboration tool, "Facebook at Work," in early January.
The Menlo Park, California, company's move, the article points out, comes as work communication has evolved to include real-time chatting and document sharing. "Microsoft acquired social-enterprise company Yammer in 2012 and has been incorporating it into its Office productivity suite," the Journal report said. "International Business Machines Corp. has its own workplace social-networking service called 'Connections.' Slack, a new enterprise-collaboration tool, was recently valued at roughly $1 billion."
The Journal reports that Facebook at Work is currently being tested at a few number of companies, and only companies that sign up for the service will be able to use the platform. Other details remain unknown.
Facebook has a clear advantage in this area given its high consumer user base and brand recognition, but some human resources technology experts say the company is late to the party. Others, meanwhile, point out that the market for workplace collaboration tools is diminishing.
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