Here Comes Work Chat: Facebook At Work’s Own Chat Messaging Platform

For those not familiar with Facebook at Work, it is the version of Facebook that is designed for the work environment. Employees can use the platform to interact with colleagues, just like on a regular social network, but this time, the environment is geared for work or business. Well, Facebook at  Work now has its own chat messaging platform, and it is called Work Chat.

The Work Chat mobile app basically allows employees to send each other chat messages either individually (person to person) or collectively (via chat groups), share photos and video content, make and receive voice calls, and even make use of stickers. The Work Chat app was released by the social media giant without much fanfare on the Google Play store just this week. According to Facebook, a version that runs on Apple’s iOS mobile operating system is currently under development, and should be released soon at a later date, although the company has not revealed any specific timeline for the launch.

Facebook has revealed last fall that it was actually planning a wide release of a freemium edition of Facebook at Work sometime before the end of this year, but the social media has hinted just recently that it may be closer to next year. Still, the timing of the launch of the Work Chat mobile app is just about perfect. The Work Chat mobile app is now live on Google Play store, however it should be noted that the app is only made available to use by those who are currently testing the Facebook at Work platform. 

Ever since Facebook at Work was officially announced back in January early this year, the project has undergone private testing, and currently has hundreds of businesses and companies on board. As a matter of fact, Facebook has revealed that to date, it already has 300 firms using its business networking platform, ranging from small startup companies to big corporations such as banking institutions, real estate companies, beverage corporations, and travel agencies, among many others. Some of the familiar names on board already include Heineken USA, Hootsuite, Linio in Latin America, and most notably, the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is looking to have 30,000 of its employees use Facebook at Work by March of next year, and then after that, all of its 100,000 strong workforce before 2016 wraps up. 

Facebook at Work actually looks very similar to the regular consumer edition of Facebook. Furthermore, it features its own website alongside mobile apps that run on the Android and iOS operating systems. Companies have the ability to create new accounts for their employees for the business networking platform, and the workers can elect to link both their work accounts and their private Facebook accounts together. What is cool about Facebook at Work is that it also facilitates business related tasks such as document sharing, group discussions, information dissemination, group chatting, task collaborations, and event planning and scheduling, among many others.