Dive Brief:

• Facebook announced that Facebook at Work, its enterprise social platform, will officially launch by the end of 2015, reports the Wall Street Journal.
• More than 100 companies have been using the beta version of Facebook at Work since January.
• So far, social media as a tool in the workplace has failed to take off.

Dive Insight:

Facebook believes social media and tools can change the way that people work, though other companies that have launched similar tools have not been particularly successful.

The pilot program of Facebook at Work, which began in January, is now ending and Facebook is getting ready to launch a free version for companies to use. Facebook will compete with Microsoft, the owner of Yammer, as well as with a number of startups like Slack.

But experts say Facebook at Work has at least one huge pro over its competitors: Facebook at Work is a near identical version of the current Facebook site. People that already use Facebook and are familiar with its layout and tools may be more likely to adopt Facebook at Work easily. People may not be as interested in learning how to use a new social network like Yammer.

“If somebody comes into the company, they know how to use this tool from day one, so training cost is zero,” said Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite. “That’s important.”