Facebook’s new app allows companies to set up private social networks

‘Facebook at Work’ enables employees to communicate with each other independently of their personal Facebook accounts. Will your organization embrace or reject the app?

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

Yammer, SocialCast, Podio, Chatter, Slack … they’re all tools for internal collaboration that share at least one thing in common: When somebody asks to explain them, it’s easiest to say, “It’s Facebook for the enterprise.”

If Facebook has its way, Facebook will become Facebook for the enterprise. That’s the goal of Facebook at Work, the app that’s now available for download.

Getting the app (or desktop version) doesn’t mean you can use it. For now, Facebook has opened its enterprise service to a handful of companies. That hasn’t stopped speculation on Facebook’s potential to grab market share from companies dedicated to internal networking (or, for that matter, from LinkedIn).

The concept is simple. If you have a Facebook at Work account, you’ll be able to access it from your public Facebook profile, but nothing you do on Work will be visible on your regular profile. Instead, your interactions will appear only to your colleagues who also have Work accounts.

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.