Facebook Aims at Social Networking for Work
When it comes to social networks, Facebook is pretty much at the top of the heap. There are tons of choices out there, from Google+ to Twitter, from LinkedIn to the sparse Ello – but at the end of the day, everyone who partakes in the aforementioned networks also has a Facebook profile that tends to get the bulk of their social activity. Now, it seems, Facebook isn’t content at being the top casual social network – a new report says that it’s looking to expand into the workplace social networking setting as well.
The news comes from a report in the Financial Times (behind a paywall), and explains that Facebook at Work will provide users with separate work profiles and personal profiles. Like the usual version of Facebook, it’ll offer up a news feed and groups, and will presumably allow users to more easily communicate and share ideas and important information with each other.
It’s a smart move considering that so many workers already connect with each other on Facebook – creating a separate interface for work-related connecting seems like a solid fit. Here at BestTechie, we connect with each other using Yammer, a Microsoft-owned, work-optimized social network that seems to share a lot of DNA with Facebook in general. Moreover, we’re all already connected on Facebook, too. Having Facebook at Work as an option, it might make things much more streamlined and simplified.
However, there still seem to be some other questions about what form, exactly, Facebook at Work will take. For instance, will Facebook at Work simply be Facebook, but behind a walled garden for different companies? So, if I work for Company A, will I have my personal profile and my Company A profile, that connects me with all the other Company A employees? Will Facebook contract with Company A for a fee? Or will the service be free with ads?
Or, will Facebook at Work take on LinkedIn, aiming for a kind of digital resume and job marketplace? LinkedIn allows users to look for new gigs, connect with contacts (like a digital rolodex or business card file), and communicate with people across companies. Again, it’d be great if I could do the same things I do on LinkedIn on Facebook, streamlining my social media presence.
As to which model – or if they’re even exclusive – Facebook at Work will utilize remains to be seen, but it’ll be interesting to see what Mark Zuckerberg and company come up with.
[Source: Financial Times]