Could ‘Facebook at Work’ make LinkedIn obsolete?

Facebook rumoured to compete with LinkedIn, Google & Microsoft by launching “Facebook at Work”

That’s right; the top dog in social media plans to have a crack at tackling the professional users, possibly knocking the likes of LinkedIn, Microsoft Exchange and Google Drive off their pedestal. Whilst currently you would expect a slap on the wrist from the big man for using Facebook at work, you may receive plaudits for using “Facebook at Work”.Facebook at Work

Little is known so far when it comes to the specifics of the project, so I am unable to bore you with details. But, hypothetically, could it take over the current go-to professional, business focused social media that is LinkedIn?

Possibly. There is a reason for the buzz around “Facebook at Work”. I personally believe that this could be put down to the fact that we love the familiar. A business orientated social media platform that I already know how to use? Don’t mind if I do. I say this because I expect the layout to mirror normal facebook. I expect a news feed, groups to join and pages to like; but I also expect new features.

I don’t expect “Facebook at Work” to be a place for users to post photos of their dinners or “selfies” with their cats, although I’m sure neither of those will be dearly missed. Instead, I imagine it to a place where you meet new business contacts, converse with co-workers and so forth. You will be able to build a professional portfolio that others in your area of expertise may be able to access. So it is possible that the information that you would usually publish on LinkedIn, you would post it on Facebook at Work, too instead.

This may not be the case, however. Facebook’s mass of user informations has been known to aggravate even the most trusting of people. This begs the question: Would multi-million pound companies trust Facebook to have all of this information on file? I’ll let you decide that one.

Another issue I have picked at is; If I ran a company with 200+ employees, what would attract me to Facebook at Work to such a degree that I want to cope with the hassle of ensuring my entire workforce transfers over to it? This is especially applicable if they integrate the cloud system that is being spoke about.

I fully believe that Facebook should go ahead with this project solely down to the number of similar platforms with no real contender being able to dominate the market, and if there is anyone on this planet that knows how to dominate an industry, it’s Mark Zuckerberg.

Alas, I could dabble with the pros and cons forever but, like most things, only time will tell.