Facebook At Work Ready To Roll Out Sometime Next Year

The biggest social media platform in the planet is preparing to officially release the business version of itself to companies around the world. After being quietly tested for the fast few quarters, Facebook at Work is expected to be deployed in the coming months sometime next year. This was revealed by Vanessa Chan, spokesperson for Facebook, recently this week.

For those not familiar with Facebook at Work, it is basically the same Facebook we use everyday, but geared for employees. Thus, it will come with the same set of features and functionalities as the standard Facebook, including profiles, timelines, posts, groups, pages, events, and chat messaging (Work Chat) and commenting functions. The only big difference is that games are not included in Facebook at Work (because, duh).

Over almost the past decade, Facebook has about ruled the world of social media. It is getting clear now that the company has ambitions beyond likes and news feeds -- it wants to become an important part of businesses’ operations too. Interestingly, Facebook at Work is not the sole nor the first social network to focus on business. As a matter of fact, services such as Yammer (from Microsoft), Socialcast (from VMWare), and Convo have already existed way before Facebook at Work. One big advantage of Facebook though is that almost everybody in the planet right now uses it.

It is not like businesses have not utilized Facebook for their various needs in past years. Small and medium enterprises often use the social media platform as a way to promote its products and services, provide information about its operations, and even as a recruitment arm. With Facebook at Work about to be rolled out to the masses, companies now can officially make it a business tool instead of a bonus perk for employees.

It should be noted though that users of Facebook at Work will have business profiles that are separate from their personal files. What users share through their Facebook at Work accounts will only be seen by other people within the same company they work in. In turn, what people share through their personal accounts can only be seen by their Facebook friends and other people (depending on privacy settings). The administrators of businesses will be in charge of setting up the Facebook at Work network, monitoring the creation of employee accounts, and creating pages and groups. 

Like the standard Facebook, the business version will be made accessible to employees both via desktop (regular Internet browsing through PCs) or via mobile devices (smartphones, tablets). When it officially rolls out, Facebook at Work will be free, however the company will charge for specific premium features, like analytics, customer support, and third party integrations with other mobile apps.