The app is separate from regular Facebook, but it uses the site's familiar tools. It's designed to give employees the ability to connect and collaborate using news feed, groups, messages and events. But the experience will be limited to a user's co-workers, within a company—with no overlap with a user's friends.
In a key turning point for Facebook, which has built its business on advertising, the company is strongly considering a subscription model. This will be a key way for Facebook to diversify its revenue stream and tap into a valuable and growing market for enterprise services.
Facebook's new workplace tool puts it into direct competition with Microsoft's Yammer, Salesforce's Chatter and Jive Software. There are also a number of hot start-ups in this space—notably Slack, which is particularly popular for enterprise collaboration at new companies.
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