If you get bored sitting around the office all day without being able to socialize, Facebook has a new hobby for you. Facebook has just announced a new social tool called "Work" (we called it 'Facebook for Work' before), which will revolve around your professional life, and how employees in a Business communicate with each other.
But Facebook at Work, a new corporate version of the social network, designed to let companies conduct internal business on their own mini-Facebooks, is not one of those ideas. It is a manifestly terrible idea which, if adopted in your workplace, will undoubtedly transform it into a dystopian hell-hole of paranoia and confusion, before ultimately destroying it altogether, leaving you on the streets.
Now, you won't have to go through the hassle of getting around a firewall in order to access Facebook, or hiding it from your boss for that matter.
Simply titled ‘Work’ (as opposed to 'Facebook for Work' as was rumored before), the new product will reportedly allow businesses to create self-contained social networks exclusively for employees. Sounds kind of like an Intranet, with the exception that it would be accessible outside of work.
The social networks created in Work would mirror Facebook in design and user experience. Users can join using their existing Facebook account, or can create their own ID just for use in Work.
So, why use Work when everyone you work with is already on Facebook? For starters there are no advertisements or data tracking. So you won’t be inundated with ads or have to worry about lack of confidentiality.
Secondly, the company is touting the usefulness of its Groups feature and how it is being integrated in Work. It’s apparently so useful, in fact, that Facebook believes it could replace workplace email the way that other companies like Slack and Yammer have set out to do.
Lars Rasmussen, the engineering director at Facebook, says that the company is currently using Work for its communication, and is using feedback gained by its employees over the years to refine the product before releasing it in an already crowded marketplace.
It sounds like Facebook has recognized the significant growth of workplace communication apps as of late, and is now in reaction mode trying to produce a solution of its own. Perhaps Facebook is banking on the fact that the users’ familiarity with the network will keep them from seeking the services offered by competitive apps.
How Work compares to similar offerings already on the market will remain to be seen as Work is still in the testing phase, having only been released to a select group of partners.
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