Facebook has been doing a lot late, facebook is moving from a social media to a business arena where you might now end up buying and selling. Facebook’s private social networks for companies officially launched today. After several years in private beta, the company’s Slack and Yammer competitor is now known simply as “Workplace,” and is available to companies, non-profits and educational institutions of any size.
From Facebook’s announcement, more than 1,000 organisations around the world are already using Workplace, with India, the US, Norway, UK and France leading the top five countries. With the public release, the company hopes features like Messenger chat, Facebook Live and Groups will become indispensable to companies, rather than just a daily distraction. (And, because Workplace accounts are completely separate from Facebook accounts, the discussions should be a little bit more focused to begin with.) Aside from those familiar elements, Workplace has a few new corporate tricks like dashboard analytics, single sign-on and better IT integration to make it even more office-friendly. There’s also a separate Work Chat app for iOS and Android so employees can keep in touch while they’re out of the office.
Facebook went ahead to announce that The workplace is about more than just communicating between desks within the walls of an office. Some people spend their entire workday on the go, on their mobile phone. Others spend all day out in the field, or on the road. We’ve been amazed by the breadth of organisations who’ve embraced Workplace — from a shipping company that can now connect with their ship crews using Live video, to a bank that now uses Workplace instead of fax machines and newsletters to share updates with its distributed bank branches. Large multinational companies like Danone, Starbucks and Booking.com, international nonprofits such as Oxfam, and regional leaders such as YES Bank of India and the Government Technology Agency of Singapore have all embraced Workplace. People work in different ways, around the world, and Workplace’s mission is to help them stay connected.
