Like any great company, Facebook is continually
looking to innovate and increase its functionality. Facebook at Work (or FB@Work) is its newest, most exciting endeavor by the social media giant that strives to streamline workplace communication and position the company as the top tier networking tool, both in the office and at home.
To be successful, FB@Work first had to differentiate itself from what is arguably its greatest adversary: its globally-recognized Facebook counterpoint. Where many companies have spent the past several years attempting to nix all on-the-job use of Facebook and like-minded social networks by employees, Facebook now has had to turn the tables and convince businesses that the new version improves, not impairs, worker productivity.
Its attempt to do so begins with a much more professional-looking dashboard that underscores the platform's purpose of connecting colleagues. Users are greeted with a business-like gray color scheme and zero advertisements that might otherwise tempt them off-site and off-productiveness. Logging into FB@Work requires the use of a separate work email account in order to completely separate personal Facebook friends and messages with those associated with their professional identity.
Ease Of Adoption And Use
One of the biggest advantages the new Facebook at Work has over its competitors relates again to the ubiquitousness of its more social predecessor: Everyone already knows how to effectively use it. Competing workplace applications that likewise seek to streamline communications often take several months for users to become fluent with dashboard tools. In contrast, business users of the new Facebook frequently find the site near instinctual to use and can have it mastered within a week of adoption.
Key Features That Make FB@Work Work
Some of the exciting features and tools offered by the business-friendly Facebook at Work include:
- Groups. Team members can create various Groups, which is the primary method for employees to organize themselves on the platform. These Groups might be separated into different project teams, company announcements, and social topics for easy dissemination of information.
- News Feeds. Just as with traditional Facebook, FB@Work includes News Feeds where personalized algorithms pull the highlights users need to know from their different Groups.
- Built-in Analytics. Manager admins can use back-end analytic tools to see how many and which employees saw a specific post, and when. While such a tool is somewhat common among work-specific applications built today, FB@Work goes one step further to also offer analytics to find who the most 'influential' users are based on the frequency of their social interactions and the amount of times others interact with them.
If you are looking for a more effective collaborative tool for your workplace, then Facebook at Work is worth a look, especially as it is still currently in beta runs and is operating as a free SaaS (Software as a Service), Eventually the company plans to move to a subscription fee based on the number of users. Currently, over 450 companies around the globe are using the new platform. Shouldn't yours be the next to log in?
