Facebook at Work wants to become an integral part of your office life

Facebook at Work launches early next year, the US social network has confirmed

FACEBOOK is preparing to launch a business-focused version of the hugely successful social network, dubbed Facebook at Work.

Over the last year, Facebook has been quietly testing a new version of its ubiquitous social network.

Known as Facebook at Work, the professional edition of the social service is set to roll-out worldwide in early 2016, Facebook spokeswoman Vanessa Chan has confirmed.

As its name suggests, Facebook at Work is geared towards office life and hopes to improve communication and collaboration amongst colleagues.

Facebook at Work includes almost all of the same features and functionality as the consumer edition, including profile pages, timelines, public posts, status updates, group conversations, public pages and events.

However casual games – such as the ever-popular Candy Crush and Farmville – will not be available.

The business-focused version of Facebook aims to compete with other work networks, like Microsoft Yammer, VMWare's Socialcast, Slack and Convo.

Facebook at Work users will be able to set-up a business profile, that remains completely separate from their personal account.

Content and posts shared via Facebook at Work will only be available to users within the company.

Administrators for each firm will be tasked with setting up the Facebook at Work network, tracking employee sign-ups, creating groups for users and monitoring activity and conduct across the company network.

Dedicated Facebook at Work iPhone and Android apps are available, too.

 

Dedicated Facebook at Work mobile apps will be available to users on iOS and Android

Facebook has been quietly testing the new business-minded network since January 2015.

More than 300 organisations – including the Royal Bank of Scotland and Heineken – have been running an early version of the service.

Club Med has already confirmed plans to roll out the service to its 13,000 employees by next summer, Reuters has reported.

Facebook At Work will be available to any company when the new social network officially launches next year.

A basic package will be free, according to Vanessa Chan, but Facebook plans to charge for certain premium features, including analytics, customer support and integrations with third-party apps.