Facebook Workplace Opens for Business

• 10th October 2016
• Leanne Hyland

Facebook has today launched a new business focused social networking service which works to replace in-house email and intranet systems.

Workplace provides a safe and secure environment to exchange messages with colleagues and close business partners, while retaining many of Facebook’s familiar features. Live video, group video, audio calling features and automatic translation will remain accessible on Workplace, as will the ability to react to posts.

And if you’re concerned about getting work notifications on your personal account, don’t worry – Facebook have confirmed that an entirely separate profile will be created for work based activities on the new enterprise system.

Available online and with separate versions for desktop, mobile, ios and android users, Workplace has already attracted more than 1,000 businesses since it’s pilot release in January 2016, and with Facebook’s current 1.7 billion monthly active users, there should be no issues in drumming up further interest.

Unlike many of their competitors – including Slack and Yammer – Facebook will charge for the new service based on the number of employees actively using it each month, rather than by head count. This means Facebook are very much holding themselves accountable for the quality of the service.

How was Workplace developed?

First revealed in October 2014 – workplace has been a long time in the making.

Workplace Director, Julien Codorniou, said of the development process: “We had to build this totally separate from Facebook. We wanted to see how it would work in very conservative industries and government agencies. We had to test the product in every possible geography and industry, especially the most conservative ones. We’re going to grow Workplace like Instagram and Messenger. Before you even think about monetisation, we want to spend the first years growing it. We are obsessed with growth.”

To find out more, read the full story on Facebook’s blog