Facebook is releasing a business version of the social media platform that provides functions that cater to offices called Facebook at Work, and it's already in private testing.
The offering, according to Android Community, is basically like the consumer version that everyone knows of today, except that it's retro fitted to meet the needs of companies and their staff. The most notable feature is the Facebook Messenger like chat program that is being coined as Work Chat, and it is a chat system made much like Slack - meaning the primary function is for work discussions.
Clap Way reports that Facebook released Work Chat for Android last Friday, but is only available if users have a Facebook at Work account. There is no word yet on when Work Chat will be made available for iOS though.
There are currently about 300 businesses that are in beta testing for Facebook's enterprise version, including clientele such as Heineken USA, Hootsuite, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Royal Bank is requiring all of it's 30,000 employees and staff to be on the app by the time March 2016 comes around. Heineken has also grown its user base, starting off with 40, and now adding up to 550 users.
Facebook at Work's chat application was not in the Facebook Newsroom when launched. Instead, it was quietly made available for download on Google Store almost out of the blue, says Giga Om.
At the moment, Slack seems to be the strongest competition to Facebook at Work. The product founded by Stewart Butterfield is a work-chat app that allows teams to discuss projects and itinerary easily. Slack includes various integrations that make the experience better such as Dropbox, Google Drive, IFTTT, Twitter, Google Calendar and others.
Google has remained silent about its plans to counter Facebook's attempts with Google Apps for Work, which is a collection of all its productivity apps used for office rudiments.
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