Facebook for Work, Big Blue’s attempt at a social network for enterprises, is getting ready for a global launch. The enterprise social network is currently in a closed beta; despite that it has managed to rack up 60,000 companies, all of which are ready to switch to the professional network.
Facebook is gearing up for a global release later this year and it has been reported that it is preparing its app platform for all types of devices. The company has just announced another big customer, Telenor. As of today, the cellular carrier hailing from Norway, which covers 13 countries and 203 million users, will be using Facebook’s professional network for all of its employees. Telenor’s numbers of employees, around the globe, tally up to a hefty 36,000.
Sigve Brekke, President and CEO of Telenor Group, says that Telenor was actually one of the first companies to try the social product as part of a wider collaboration between Facebook and his company. “We wanted to change how people work internally,” he said. He hinted how he wanted to improve communications with his employees and how this would help break down traditional work structure improving the way groups work on specific projects.
Brekke said that Facebook was the natural option to go for as most of the people around the world already use it and are familiar with it whether it is on desktop or smartphones. Other than Pakistan and Norway, Telenor operates in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and 8 other countries. It has a 14 percent stake in Vimplecom, the parent company of Mobilink. Telenor has been collaborating with Facebook over projects like Free Basics and several engineering projects to expand Facebook’s mobile network reach like infra.
There are now 450 enterprises using Facebook at Work with new companies being announced regularly. Mobilink has already joined the list of these enterprises and now Telenor will be using the social network in its daily operations everywhere, including Pakistan.
Telenor’s addition to Facebook for Work holds great importance as Telenor is a global carrier and is the largest global enterprise to sign up for the professional social network, says Julien Codorniou, who heads up FB at Work globally. In addition to that, signing up a cellular provider could be helpful in boosting Facebook’s user base in the emerging markets.
