Summary
Highlights
Facebook at Work officially launched on Monday after being in beta testing since January 2015. It allows employees to chat and collaborate, and hundreds of companies, including Royal Bank of Scotland, have been testing the product.
Companies appreciate Facebook at Work's simplicity and ease of use, as most employees are already familiar with the Facebook interface, requiring no additional training. Facebook plans to monetize the service by charging companies a fee for every employee who uses the platform at least once a month.
Facebook at Work faces significant competition in the messaging and collaboration space from major incumbents like Salesforce and Microsoft, as well as startups like Slack. Facebook at Work is a separate platform from the personal social network, featuring a distinct, more subdued interface. Users do not need a personal Facebook account to log in and cannot access their personal profile through the work platform or vice versa. It also incorporates enterprise-grade security and administration tools, similar to other offerings in the market, having been tested internally at Facebook for many years.