Facebook Workplace Is Out To Get Slack
In almost all versions of this universe, "Facebook" and "work" are like oil and water, unless you happen to actually work at Facebook. But in Zuckerberg's singularity, Facebook will be the driving force behind office productivity, smooth flowing operations, and cordial employee relationships. That is practically the spirit behind Facebook Workplace, formerly Facebook for Work, that the social networking giant is formally launching. Although it will never admit it, it clearly attempts to nibble at the pie largely held by Slack, even before Microsoft had a chance to do something similar with Skype.
Slack clearly started a revolution. While office communication is nothing new, Slack's arrival highlighted the thirst for something better, more comprehensive, and modern. Now anyone and everyone, from Microsoft to Google to Facebook, wants a piece of that market.
Facebook Workplace leverages the fact that probably everyone who knows how to use the Internet these days has a Facebook account, and even some that don't (by proxy). The new service offers the familiar features like Groups, group chats, reactions, and even Facebook Live. These are designed to streamline inter-company communications.
But Workplace also boasts of features not found in the core Facebook experience, like analytics and Multi-Company Groups. The latter is useful for working on projects with other people from other companies or organizations. And, being an enterprise platform, Facebook promises that security is at the top of its list as well. Which you may or may not believe.
But while work-oriented platforms like Facebook Workplace do offer the basics in communication similar to Slack, they mostly lack one of Slack's biggest strengths: integration with third-party services. That said, Facebook does have plans to offer something similar, but its competition with other services may hinder it from being as comprehensive as Slack's.
Facebook Workplace, however, may also have the advantage of price in addition to brand familiarity. The service costs $3 monthly for the first 1,000 active users, $2 for 1,001 to 10,000 users, and $1 beyond that. Slack, on the other hand, has a simpler two-tier offer, starting higher at $6.67 per month per user. That said, Slack does offer a free option for an unlimited time, while Facebook Workplace only has a three-month free trial period.
SOURCE: Facebook