Facebook’s Workplace, a co-working tool for businesses, on-boarded 40% of its current paid users in just seven months as the COVID-19 pandemic restricted people to working from home.
Workplace added two million paid users since October 2019 to surpass five million active paid users now, the social media company said in a blog post last Thursday.
Facebook also rolled out new Workplace features, after more than 95% of its own employees have started to work remotely.
“Today, we’re introducing new video features in Workplace to make communication even easier,” Facebook said. The company is adding Workplace features on Portal, its video-calling device, and making Oculus, its virtual reality software provider, available for business to meet the increased demand for VR-powered training and collaboration.
Facebook Workplace Rooms
The social media company said that platforms and devices like Workplace, Portal and Oculus were built for a time when “what you do could matter more than where you are.”
Video call links
The company launched Workplace Rooms to enable co-workers stay connected from different locations. The meeting platform with unlimited time can host up to 50 people from different companies in a video call. Facebook said that one can create video call links from Workplace Chat, Groups or Portal and share them in chat, post, email or text messages. People can also host virtual “happy hours” and one-on-one calls through Workplace Rooms.
One can go live on Workplace from the desktop through ‘Live Producer’, which also helps to schedule live videos, share screens and let people ask questions live. People can turn on automatic captions for live videos in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. It can also translate videos in all these languages.
Facebook said that it would make Portal’s features like Artificial Intelligence-powered smart camera and smart sound available in Workplace to enhance the live videos. The company will introduce Portal TV for workplace calls and videos next month.
Oculus in Workplace
The social media company also said that Oculus is now available in Workplace for businesses. Since its launch, the demand for Oculus, the VR software provider, has grown in professional training and virtual meetings, besides entertainment.
The introduction of these new features comes after Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Facebook, said that about half of its people could be working remotely over the next five to ten years.
“We are going to be the most forward-leaning company on remote work,” said Zuckerberg in a video message.
