Are you using Facebook at Work? Not in the traditional sense, in the new shiny Enterprise Social Network sense.
I’ve been writing about their latest offerings since the start of the year.
Now they’ve rebranded to Workplace (formerly known as Facebook at Work) and it’s available to any company or organisation that wants to use it.
Facebook has had an internal version of its app to help run its company for many years.
They say: “We’ve seen that just as Facebook keeps you connected to friends and family, it can do the same with coworkers. We started testing a version of Facebook for the workplace with a few other organisations over a year ago.
“Now, more than 1,000 organisations around the world use Workplace. People have created nearly 100,000 groups and the top five countries using Workplace are India, the US, Norway, UK and France.
We’re excited by the progress we’ve made and the level of adoption and engagement we’re seeing.”
This announcement has been long-awaited. Will you now dip a toe in the water and give it a go?
Further reading about Facebook at Work via my blog
I featured a guest post by Sam Thomas of Daniel Thwaites Brewery a few weeks ago. She shared how they are using Facebook at Work (Workplace).
All you need to know about Facebook at Work – published in February 2016.
How are companies using Workplace?
Facebook says the workplace is about more than just communicating between desks within the walls of an office.
Isn’t that the truth!
Work means different things to different people. We all know the challenges of reaching remote employees, the options that exist when it comes to using mobiles to communicate, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and how to get around the trust factor.
Facebook says the new global and mobile workplace isn’t about closed-door meetings or keeping people separated by title, department or geography.
I agree, I’ve blogged before about how the world of work is changing – from a place you go to a thing you do.
So it sounds like Facebook has created the virtual Workplace – a site you can access wherever you are to connect and communicate with colleagues and work on the go.
Is that how you view your ESN? Is a place you go to get your work done?
Talking about Trust, I like the fact they have Trust Principles:
1. Your Workplace account is separate from your personal Facebook account
They’ve designed the system so the information you share in one is not shared in the other.
2.Workplace users do not see advertising in their company-managed community
Plus, information you share in Workplace will not be used to target advertising in your personal Facebook account.
3.Workplace has industry-leading hosting operations
The Workplace hosting practices are regularly audited by independent third-party auditors. An industry standard SOC3 report is available, with a more detailed SOC2 report available upon request.
4.Security is their top priority
Workplace is designed in collaboration with Facebook’s security experts. They say the security of the service is regularly evaluated and tested. Examples of these activities include full source code reviews, penetration tests, and security audits by an independent third-party. Facebook “happily” shares these reports and results upon request.
5.Companies control their data
You can modify, delete, or export your data at any time. Their industry standard APIs are provided to allow for content export. The API documentation can be read online. If they receive a request for your data from a third party, they will always attempt to redirect the request to you.
Who’s using it?
Facebook says it is amazed by the breadth of organisations who’ve embraced Workplace — from a shipping company that can now connect with their ship crews using Live video, to a bank that now uses Workplace instead of fax machines and newsletters to share updates with its distributed bank branches.
Large multinational companies like Danone, Starbucks and Booking.com, international nonprofits such as Oxfam, and regional leaders such as YES Bank in India and the Government Technology Agency of Singapore have all embraced Workplace to help keep them connected.
I’ve listed some case studies below and you can find them and hundreds more on my who’s using what for their Enterprise Social Network article.
Read case studies to discover who’s using it
Booking.com – Netherlands
Danone – France
Eimskip – Iceland
Made.com – UK
RNIB – UK
BRAC – Bangladesh
BurgerFuel – New Zealand
Countdown Supermarkets – New Zealand
Government Technology Agency – Singapore
Hello Fresh – Global
nbn – Australia
SEAOIL – Philippines
Telnet – New Zealand
University of New England – Australia
Vision India Foundation – India
YES Bank – India
Yoma Bank – Myanmar
Canadian Tire – Canada
Columbia Sportswear – USA
MercadoLibre – Argentina
UST Global – USA
Weber Shandwick – USA.
What can you expect?
Facebook says it has brought the best of Facebook to the workplace — whether it’s basic infrastructure such as News Feed, or the ability to create and share in Groups or via chat, or useful features such as Live, Reactions, Search and Trending posts.
This means you can chat with a colleague across the world in real-time, host a virtual brainstorm in a Group, or follow along with your CEO’s presentation on Facebook Live.
Are you doing this? If so and you fancy guest blogging, do please get in touch.
How to measure
Facebook has also built unique, Workplace-only features that companies can benefit from such:
- dashboard with analytics
- integrations with single sign-on
- identity providers that allow companies to more easily integrate Workplace with their existing IT systems.
The integration piece is always tricky. Could this be the tipping point and enable more companies to sign up?
What’s new?
Yesterday Facebook announced Multi-Company Groups. These are shared spaces that allow employees from different organisations to work together.
Facebook says this enables you to extend collaboration beyond your company in a safe and secure way.
These will be rolling out to all customers in the coming weeks.
This has been a constant conversation within the world of internal comms over the past few years. From Yammer’s Groups to Office 365 Groups, there’s clearly a recognition that companies want to find ways to extend collaboration beyond their company walls.
Find out more
If you’d like to know more about Workplace, Facebook has launched a Workplace Partner Program with trained partners to enable you to access it. They include Deloitte, Weber Shandwick and Ketchum.
Companies only pay for people who are actively using the product.
Organisations are stronger and more productive when everyone comes together.
For more information, or to get Workplace by Facebook for your company, visit workplace.fb.com. Or find them on Facebook: facebook.com/workplace.
Post author: Rachel Miller
First published on the All Things IC blog 11 October 2016.
We’ve been using it for about four months now, and it’s actually been really surprising. The culture of communication needs to be really different, as this really feels like our employees tool, rather than a corporate tool. There are some really key differences to communciating than with, for example, Yammer – and that’s all down to it being a facebook branded tool.
Hi Dan, thanks for your message. I’d love to know more. Fancy guest blogging? Rachel.
Happy to Rachel – let me know what you want from me – perhaps hit me up on twitter? @ilovecress