14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook launched today a new service called Workplace. The service is aimed at the enterprise market and allows companies to build their own Facebook clone, accessible only to its employees.
Facebook has been working on this new project for years and has spent the last 20 months in a beta stage under the name of Facebook for Work.
Over 1,000 organizations have helped Facebook test and fine-tune the product. The list of early adopters includes big names such as Booking.com, Danone, Renault, RBS, Starbucks, and Campbell's, just to name a few.
Facebook itself uses Facebook Workplace
Facebook says the origin of Facebook Workplace is its own custom implementation of the Facebook platform, which Facebook employees use internally to build... Facebook.
This new product is an on-demand Facebook social network, which companies can deploy as part of their internal network or Intranet.
Facebook Workplace supports classic Facebook features like News Feed, Facebook Live, an internal chat system (Messenger), Groups, Reactions, Trending Posts, or Search.
Additionally, the company has built a custom dashboard for managers where they can get reports and analytics about what's been happening in their firm's network in the past month.
Facebook Workplace is a commercial product
Facebook plans to monetize the new tool. The current pricing model will charge companies based on the number of active employees each month.
This means that if an employee doesn't use the product, the company won't have to pay for him. This pricing model eliminates the need of vague employee usage quotas and will help businesses keep down costs.
With the release of Facebook Workplace, Facebook has now become a direct competitor to companies such as Google and Slack, which offer similar communication tools for the enterprise market sector.
Facebook Workplace costs from $1 to $3 per user
Companies that want to try Facebook Workplace can take the product for a three-month free trial, after which they'll have to pay between $1 and $3 per employee, depending on the number of active users. The more users a company has, the less it will have to pay per employee.
With almost 1.6 billion monthly active users, companies will rush to join the program because employees are already well accustomed with the platform, which also comes with accompanying mobile apps.
