Most media attention focused on the expansion of resources to tackle harmful content, when Facebook recently announced the creation of 1,000 new jobs in the UK. But with London representing Facebook’s largest software engineering hub outside the US and already home to 3000 employees focused on technology and product, it’s great to see that the world’s largest social media network is also creating new roles in its UC offering, in the offices they are building in London’s Kings Cross (scheduled to open in late 2021).
Social networking the professional way
Leveraging the social network interface with which we are all familiar to provide professional collaboration and connection features, Facebook Workplace has recently hit 3 million paid users (October 2019), since its beta launch just 3 years before. Karandeep Anand, Vice President, Workplace from Facebook, told us:
“Today we have companies of every size, in every industry and across all seven continents, connecting and collaborating on Workplace"
"From large enterprises such as Walmart, Nestle, GSK, Telefonica and Chevron, to small and medium-sized businesses like Honest Burgers, Valet Living and Ennismore. We also have millions of users at NGOs like Oxfam, World Wildlife Fund and the World Health Organization, doing important work on our platform through our Workplace for Good programme [Workplace is made available at zero cost to registered charities, educational organisations, and emergency services].”
While many of the 2.4 billion consumer users of the platform may have no idea that an alternative professional networking and collaboration tool exists within it, the close connections between the two are key to the rapid growth and adoption of the tools it offers, reducing friction in onboarding and uptake through its optimised UX and familiarity.
Innovation with investment
“We’re building a brand-new muscle for Facebook — a new B2B SaaS brand within one of the world’s biggest consumer companies,” Anand continues.
“We’re proud of our heritage, and proud of the fact that we’re Facebook’s only product fully built and run outside of California”
[caption id="attachment_24147" align="alignright" width="199"]
Karandeep Anand[/caption]
