By Barry Eitel
SAN FRANCISCO
Facebook is building a business-focused product its calling Facebook at Work, according to anonymous sources speaking to The Financial Times in a report published Monday.
The service would bring the social networking site into the office – although it’s safe to say Facebook has already infiltrated many office computers – as a standalone product separate from Facebook’s current service its 1.3 billion users worldwide are familiar with using.
The sources claim Facebook at Work will take hints from more buttoned up social networks like LinkedIn and Google Drive, as well as other tech giants like Microsoft. Users will be able to message, collaborate on documents and network with other professionals.
The Menlo Park, California, social media company is, it seems, attempting to grow up.
“The new site will look very much like Facebook – with a newsfeed and groups,” according to The Financial Times.
Building a Facebook for the weekday is a logical concept. Because the site would reportedly be distinct from personal Facebook pages, it’s a way to keep drunken status updates, political screeds or embarrassing selfies away from the workplace.
According to rumors in the summer, Facebook employees have been using a Facebook at Work-type service internally for some time.
“Everyone at Facebook uses Facebook for Work,” a former company employee told TechCrunch in June. “Most of their communication and planning is done though messages and groups … It’s a really fast and efficient way to get things done.”
With an existing business plan that consists almost entirely of selling user data to advertisers, it would be understandable if companies are wary about hoisting over confidential internal documents onto a new service from Facebook.
Breaking into the business market in a more official capacity, however, could provide a more trusty revenue stream.
Facebook has declined to comment on the rumors.
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