Facebook tests workplace-collaboration tools

Facebook at Work is said to let co-workers communicate using the social network's traditional tools, such as messaging and news feed, without mixing the professional posts with personal ones. Photo / Getty

Facebook is testing a version of its social network that will let people communicate and collaborate at work, a person familiar with the matter said, taking on tools from Microsoft and Salesforce.com.

The product, which is in trials at Facebook and several other companies, will probably debut publicly in a few months, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information is private. Facebook at Work lets people communicate with their co-workers using the social network's traditional tools, such as messaging and news feed, without mixing the professional posts with personal ones.

Facebook isn't currently charging for the product, which displays no advertising. Rob Koplowitz, an analyst at Forrester Research, said Facebook at Work poses the biggest threat to corporate social-media tools such as Microsoft's Yammer, IBM's Connections product and Salesforce.com's Chatter. All of those services help people collaborate on projects and share documents.

Read a Facebook post on the new 'Groups' app here.

"Facebook certainly has a familiar user experience that people love, and could blur the lines between employees and customers in a very compelling way," Koplowitz wrote in a note. He does see some risks for the social network. "To fully compete in the enterprise requires deep and complex capabilities that aren't required in a consumer offering," he wrote.

"It's potentially a new formidable competitor that could address some of the functionality that is currently not addressed by LinkedIn," said Mark Marcon, an analyst at Robert W. Baird, who has the equivalent of a hold rating on LinkedIn. "We have no idea what that Facebook functionality is like, but anything Facebook does won't be taken lightly."

Facebook's workplace tool doesn't currently allow communication with people at other companies, the person familiar said. Vanessa Chan, a spokeswoman at Menlo Park, California-based Facebook, declined to comment on the product.

- Bloomberg