Facebook Launching Social Network For The Workplace

(RTTNews) - Facebook has confirmed plans to launch a new workplace social network that may rival Microsoft Office, Google Drive and LinkedIn. The new service, called Facebook at Work, will function similarly to the current social network but will allow users to keep their personal profiles separate.

The network will also allow users to chat in real time, build resumes and share documents. According social networking expert Prof Andre Spicer, of the Cass Business School, the network could prove useful in unexpected ways:

"Facebook at Work is likely to bring some benefits to companies - but not the ones they think. It is unlikely to make employees more productive, but it will help them to be more connected and aware," Spicer tells the BBC.

"Social media sites like Facebook help employees to build 'weak ties'. These are people we would talk to infrequently and don't know intimately. These weak ties are often a source of important background information."