Facebook at Work is going to be a new subset of the famous social network, geared toward professional interactions and communications.
Until now, “Facebook at work” has been something that most people do to procrastinate on projects, kill time, or rebel against “the Man.” Now, though, Facebook at Work is going to be an actual subset of the famous social network, geared toward professional interactions and communications.
According to a recent report from CNET, Facebook at Work will essentially be Facebook’s answer to LinkedIn. For the decade-plus of its existence, Facebook has been meant primarily for personal interaction with friends and family members. LinkedIn, meanwhile, is on the other side of the social media spectrum, giving users a place to connect with colleagues, cultivate a professional network, and find jobs.
With Facebook at Work, Facebook is fairly clearly taking on LinkedIn. Facebook at Work will utilize the familiar Facebook interface, complete with “friend” lists, News Feeds, and groups. However, work accounts will be kept separate from personal accounts, and will be meant for collecting industry contacts and communicating with colleagues.
Facebook at Work will also allow for inter-business collaboration. A new document editing feature will allow multiple co-workers to collaborate on the same project over the internet, making changes and sharing ideas. In this regard, Facebook at Work will be similar to existing collaborative programs like Google Drive.
None of these ideas are new, of course. LinkedIn has been around for longer than Facebook has, while Google has been pushing online file storage and collaboration for several years now. Facebook’s idea is to take all of these ideas and offer them in one convenient place.
As the world’s most popular social network, Facebook is also the most powerful, which means that the company could feasibly steal a lot of users away from both LinkedIn and Google Drive with this move. After all, LinkedIn has been derided in the past for being too complex and confusing. Since virtually everyone already knows the Facebook interface, Facebook at Work will be a welcome competitor in the professional networking game.
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