10 Reasons Why Companies Should Consider Facebook’s Workplace

Workplace is Facebook’s foray into enterprise collaboration. Here’s a look at what Workplace offers employees.

Enterprise users can’t stand the idea of using first-run software. So Facebook tried to allay those fears by testing Workplace for more than a year. More than 1,000 organizations have already used the service and created nearly 100,000 groups, the company said. While there might be some glitches in Workplace, it’s nice to know Facebook has thought about its users and tested it before launch.

Facebook Workplace works across mobile and desktop. That’s important. The corporate world is increasingly going mobile but still needs access from a computer. Giving customers an option on both platforms makes Workplace far more appealing to corporate users.

Groups stand at the center of the Workplace experience. Companies create groups around specific topics or interests and only invite certain employees into those groups. Because of that, users can share content with other employees without worrying about unauthorized workers getting access to their conversations or files. Think of it like channels in Slack.

Facebook Workplace comes with support for multi-company groups. The feature means people outside an organization can join a group and collaborate with the organization’s employees on important topics, files and more. It could be an especially handy feature for services companies working with corporate clients.

No surprise here, but Facebook Workplace comes with the social network’s ubiquitous News Feed. The News Feed delivers a steady stream of the latest group updates and acts as the place for users to input their own new content. The feature is nearly identical to Facebook’s standard News Feed, providing users with the latest updates from users within the group.

Instant messaging has also found its way to Workplace. With chat support, employees can hold a private instant messaging conversation away from the main group. Like the News Feed, chat supports all kinds of content, including text messages and file sharing.

Facebook’s live video push has extended to Workplace. From the app, users can choose to “go live” on Workplace and stream whatever they’re seeing in the moment. Other employees can then comment on the videos, share reactions and more. Facebook believes it could be a nice way for a company’s employees to collaborate.

Facebook Workplace comes with a search feature that the company said will make it easy for users to find files, old messages from colleagues and much more. Being able to talk to other users is one thing, but being able to go back in time and find content is critical. That’s where the search feature comes in—and it could prove to be one of Workplace’s most important features.

The IT side will be happy to know Workplace comes with a wide range of controls. From the service’s Admin panel, administrators can choose which people can join the company’s Workplace, put users into different groups, see how many posts users have published and much more. The Admin console is the place to manage a company’s entire Workplace in the workplace.

Unlike some of its competitors (think Slack), Workplace doesn’t offer a free option for for-profit companies (nonprofits and educational institutions get it at no charge). Instead, companies can sign up for a free three-month trial and then will be charged up to $3 per user per month, depending on the number of active users within their groups. It’s important to note that the fee is based solely on active users, or those who have used the service in a particular month. Companies do not need to pay for those who are signed up and haven’t used the service during that month.