Facebook at Work, Facebook's enterprise-centered social networking platform that mirrors many of the features the company is already known for, could be launching next month, charging users a monthly fee for the service.
Once released, Facebook will charge users a yet-to-be-disclosed monthly fee, but instead of a flat rate, the company will charge based on monthly active users. Facebook at Work lets users create work accounts that are separate from their main Facebook accounts, bringing the familiar socialization elements of the site into the workplace environment.
Think of it as Facebook in the office space. There aren't many differences between Facebook and Facebook at Work, except that memes and other content unrelated to the workplace or a project are out of the question.
The service offers a "Work Feed" for collaboration and exchange between its users. Those already on Facebook are certainly no stranger to aspects embedded in the social networking site such as profiles, groups, messaging, audio and video conferencing, event pages and live streaming. All of these will be carried over to the service, making it likely that users will find Facebook at Work easy and familiar to use.
While Facebook at Work isn't the first to offer a virtual centralized nexus for professionals in a given organization, it's certainly poised to expand the popularity of the model as it offers users little to no learning curve at all if they do transition to work accounts.
Professionals among Facebook's 1.5 billion users will likely see Facebook at Work as the intuitive and obvious choice if they seek a collaborative tool for productivity and engagement. The user base alone gives Slack, a similar alternative, a run for its money. Keep in mind, Slack has enjoyed a healthy growth, clocking in a daily user count and paid seat count 3.5 times larger in just a year. It's too early to predict if Facebook will match Slack or even outperform it, but it's certainly a possible feat for the company to accomplish.
Facebook at Work has been in the development stages for two years, conducting beta trial runs since January this year. To date, 450 companies are already using the service. Once Facebook is done with commercial preparations, more companies are bound to flock the service. Regardless of their size, companies will be able to join Facebook at Work, and will enjoy a free trial beforehand.
The service is another one of Facebook's attempts to appeal to as many types of demographics as they possibly can, now targeting corporations small and large, promising to offer a much more professional atmosphere. Facebook at Work is a cleaner, more streamlined communication platform. It detaches corporate data from the insignificant contagion of selfies and other media saturating the main Facebook site on a daily basis, while still dressing the service up with an inherently social atmosphere: a win-win.
