Sneaking a look at Facebook while at the office isn't that unusual, but what if your Facebook time could be work-approved?
The world's biggest social network is developing an at-work version of the site called "FB@Work," a source told TechCrunch.
"We are making work more fun and efficient by building an at-work version of Facebook," said the source, who apparently wanted to remain anonymous. "We will touch code throughout the stack and on all platforms (web, iOS, Android, etc.)."
Little is known about the FB@Work effort except that it's based on London. TechCrunch speculated that the initiative could be an internal communication platform for the office or a rival to business networking site LinkedIn.
Facebook, which has more than a billion users, is already used for some informal in-office communications through the Facebook Groups feature.
"Everyone at Facebook uses Facebook for work," an ex-Facebook employee told TechCrunch. "Most of their communication and planning is done though Messages and Groups. It would be a pretty natural thing to try to expose this way of using Facebook to get things done at the office to the rest of the world. It's a really fast and efficient way to get things done."
Facebook employees are designated into different groups depending on their team and then are added or removed if they leave Facebook or switch to other roles. The group members are verified through authentication security software, according to the TechCrunch report.
Another source claimed that the company has been looking to develop a LinkedIn competitor for a long time but has been focusing on other features.
"This has been on the list of things to do for three years but just hasn't made it to the top of the list," a source told TechCrunch.
One issue is the network of family and friends that Facebook works to build for users, which could be threatened by a business focus.
"Facebook is thought of as a community and place for friends, and LinkedIn feels more transactional," the source said. "Facebook has to be careful not to lose that community appeal."
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