Facebook, the world's largest social networking service, is planning a foray into a totally unexplored area; that of the corporate world. Although this category is not new to the social giant's rivals like Microsoft and Linkedin, but for Facebook this definitely is new territory.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the social networking giant is making its entry into the corporate world with "Facebook at Work", a new project which is still underway, Financial Times reports.
The project is largely under wraps but the publication explains that the new enterprise-focused site will be similar to the existing version of the site. Features like news feed, groups and chats will be a part of Facebook at Work. To differentiate itself from the personal version, the unannounced site for professionals will include collaborative tools to help work on shared documents, ZDNet reports via FT.
Facebook, with its 1.35 billion strong user base, poses a challenge to LinkedIn and other services offered by Google and Microsoft. Startups have also explored the corporate arena like Salesforce's Chatter, a Facebook clone, among many others that will add to Facebook's rival list.
The company reported strong profits in its most recent quarter last month, which doubled to $802 million, and has revealed plans to heavily invest in the future.
"We are going to continue preparing for the future by investing aggressively, connecting everyone, understanding the world, and building the next-generation in computing platforms," Facebook founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said earlier. "We have a long journey ahead."
Despite Facebook's massive user-base, the company will face a stiff challenge in beating its competition in factors like engaging users at work and retaining young consumers over time. It remains to be seen if Facebook will be as successful in its corporate approach as with its personal social site.
