Facebook at Work: A Facebook App that Your Boss Wants You to Use

When you're at the office, logging onto Facebook is usually considered against company policy, with companies usually blocking the site from even loading. Facebook has now found a way to get into your boss's good graces with its new app, Facebook at Work.

The Facebook at Work app is Facebook's professional version of its network, expected to be released in the coming months. It has a very similar interface and service as its original app, with users able to "like", message each other, and scroll through a news feed. But users of the Facebook at Work app will be able to create a profile independent from the ones created on the Facebook app.

Reuters talked with Julien Codorniou, director of global platform partnerships at Facebook about the app. "I would say 95 percent of what we developed for Facebook is also adopted for Facebook at Work"

So far, more than 300 companies have been able to try out the app during its "invite only" beta phase. These companies include Heineken, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Club Mediterranee, the owner of the Club Med resort chain.

Club Mediterranee was first global travel company to try the app. The company plans to use the app to allow employees to contact each other and help brainstorm ideas to improve the workplace.

Anne Browaeys-Level, Club Med's chief digital marketing officer was positive about the app. "Facebook at Work is a user-friendly mobile tool which will be essential to contribute to pooling ideas and innovation at Club Med, creating a more productive workplace."

There's been a lot of competition over who could become the social network of the workplace with options like Microsoft's Yammer, Salesforce Chatter, and VMware's Socialcast. But Facebook at Work hopes to win the fight because most people already use Facebook and therefore the learning curve is almost nonexistent. Cordorniou also spoke with VentureBeat about the selling point.

"...it's aimed at giving a voice to all users, from the chief executive to the "foot soldier" on the ground....Facebook is banking on its familiarity to win over entire companies... there are already "very engaged users and there's no training needed - something that's unique in enterprise software."

Currently free, the app will adopt a freemium model where the main service is free but add-ons like analytics or support will have to be paid for. The app will be available for any business sometime in 2016.

However similar to the Facebook app, the Facebook at Work app does have some differences. For one, all gaming capabilities are removed. So in the end, if you have to play your Candy Crush or Cookie Jam, you'll have to continue sneaking around to play it.