Facebook is developing a Linkedin rival called FB@Work
Zuckberg and co. have been very busy as of late with finding ways of expanding the service more and more with each passing month. We’ve reported earlier that the social network website recently launched Slingshot, a photo-sharing app surprisingly similar to Snapchat. Lately, word on the street is that Facebook will also be competing with the likes of Linkedin. This upcoming project reportedly goes by the name of FB@Work and has been on the company’s to-to list for a few years now. There have been rumors about this before, but nothing too reliable until now.
The reason why this surfaced again is because a Facebook insider who chose to remain anonymous apparently spilled the beans for TechCrunch a few days ago.”We are making work more fun and efficient by building an at-work version of Facebook,” the source said. “We will touch code throughout the stack and on all platforms (web, iOS, Android, etc.). Everyone at Facebook uses Facebook for work. Most of their communication and planning is done though Messages and Groups. It would be a pretty natural thing to try to expose this way of using Facebook to get things done at the office to the rest of the world. It’s a really fast and efficient way to get things done.”
The source also mentions that FB@Work is being developed at the company’s London offices. What he didn’t say however is whether this will be a brand new website or just an addition to the main platform. But if Facebook is serious about competing with Linkedin, we assume this new service will be standalone and possibly even monetized. A source close to the company seems to believe this will not be the case, but hints that the decision is still up for debate. “It’s hard for me to believe that this would be a significant revenue opportunity for Facebook. They may charge but ultimately decide not to.”
An office oriented service like FB@Work doesn’t seem the kind of thing you would normally associate Facebook with. On the other hand, the company has shown in recent years that being the largest and most popular social network in the world just isn’t enough anymore. It’s no secret that Linkedin has been in a decline recently and people need something new to replace it so perhaps FB@Work could be the next big thing. We’ll let you know as soon as we learn something new so stay tuned for more news and updates.
Categories: Tech
Tags: business, Facebook, Facebook at Work, FB@Work, inisider, Linkedin, Rumors, social network