Well, not really, but the social media giant has launched a new site that is remarkably similar to LinkedIn.
Facebook has launched a new portal called “Facebook at work” and its aim is to keep you on Facebook even while you’re on the clock. The new portal is designed to let you connect to your colleagues, whom you may or may not be friends with (already) on Facebook.
One of the highlights to the new portal is the color scheme. The interface is shaded white, which is different than your standard blue Facebook account. So, when your boss is walking by, you don’t have to hit the Alt and Tab button to switch application screens.
According to Wired.com, the portal will have all the same features as Facebook, but it will allow users to create separate “work-friendly” profiles. “Facebook at Work will revolve around colleagues in much the same way that regular Facebook revolves around family and friends. For example, your News Feed will populate with posts shared by the coworkers who you already interact with the most,” says Lars Rasmussen, Facebook’s director of engineering.
Rasmussen also says that you don’t have to have a personal Facebook account to use Facebook at Work, as long as your company signs up for the service, you’ll be allowed to create a work account. Facebook at Work is in a beta phase at the moment and only used by a select few. But once it does launch, the question will become whether or not it can survive against the already popular work-based social media site, LinkedIn. Or maybe the bigger question is, will we finally feel comfortable using Facebook, at work?
Looking forward to getting into Facebook@Work once I get an invite. It’s an interesting concept, but I think will have some challenges to adoption. Personally, I would be comfortable using it – but I’m sure there are many who won’t be – and many companies who won’t be encouraging it.
Agree–what’s in it for the companies to allow it during work hours?