Facebook is to offer a version of its social network designed for use in the office. According to a number of sources, the company is currently testing the new version which is likely to act as a competitor to solutions such as Microsoft's Yammer, Bitrix, Inc.'s Bitrix24, Swiftpage's Act! Cloud, and possibly even Linkedin.
Apparently called "Facebook at Work" it will be "a tool for co-workers to communicate and collaborate in a professional environment on Facebook". An app for the new service appears in Apple's app store alongside an Android version on Google Play, but these can only be accessed by companies involved in the current trial. The system has already been used by Facebook's staff for some time, and includes all of the features people recognize as being part of Facebook. Sharing though can only occur 'in-house' with other members of a company.
The current trial is intended to gather feedback on the service. Whether it will ultimately be provided on a subscription basis is unknown, but what is know is that it is likely to be advert free, and unlike the standard version, the new business version of the network will not gather data about users. In addition, although the new version will be in the cloud, companies will control all information related to their staff.
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