Facebook has rolled out a new app for businesses to help connect employees and put an end to internal emails.
Workplace by Facebook is already used by more than 1,000 organisations globally following a test-period last year - Companies include Danone, Starbucks, Booking.com and Oxfam.
The social media company said it has aimed to bring the “best of Facebook” to work with features such as a news feed, group chats and events, real-time video links for virtual meetings.
Workplace also has ‘multi-company groups’, which are shared spaces that allow employees from different organisations to work together and extend collaboration.
At the BBT/ACTEForum in London last week, travel buyers spoke about the advantages of using tools such as Yammer and Chatter to communicate with frequent flyers in their business.
One buyer from a large multinational company said they had thousands of employees using the instant messaging tool and said it was an “invaluable” way to hear about issues affecting their travellers and also communicating changes to policy.
“E-mail is good and has its place, but none of us like that endless email chain of reply all, reply all, reply all,” Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said Monday at a London news conference.
Customers aren’t required to have a personal Facebook account to use Workplace and employers can’t use the tool to see what employees do on their personal accounts. Companies get data on their employees’ activity, including how many messages and posts they send.
Facebook didn’t charge for the service during the pilot phase, but now plans to levy a fee for every employee who uses the service at least once a month. The company will charge $3 for each of the first 1,000 employees, $2 for each of the next 9,000 and $1 for each one after that. However, companies only pay for active users.
Details of pricing can be found here. Costs are generally in line with rival in-work apps.
The app is available for Apple and Android devices and works and looks the same as Facebook.
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