Facebook is planning a business-orientated social network to rival LinkedIn, according to a news report.
The Financial Times cites ‘sources familiar with the matter’ that the site has been seeking to broaden its offerings, unveiling an application that lets people chat anonymously in virtual “rooms,” evoking the chat rooms from the early days of the Internet.
It is also testing a feature that lets users of the leading social network make purchases by simply pressing an on-screen “Buy” button.
The FT report reads: “Facebook is secretly working on a new website called ‘Facebook at Work'” that would allow users to “chat with colleagues, connect with professional contacts and collaborate over documents”.
“The new site will look very much like Facebook – with a newsfeed and groups – but will allow users to keep their personal profile with its holiday photos, political rants and silly videos separate from their work identity.”
The move could pose a problem for businesses, as it would result in their data being shared and stored on the social network.