Earlier this week, I posted lamenting the lack of a good office/groupware collaboration tool in Facebook. Many of the commenters wondered why I would ever want such a thing. "I don't see the point of office style apps inside facebook. Your only going to get side tracked by being attacked by a Pirate, Ninja, [INSERT ANY OBJECT]," quipped reader Darren Stuart. "If you look for productivity in a social-networking site, you would not find it," said Joseph Pally. But I still think it's a good idea, and in this post I will attempt to defend why I think that and review a recently launched Facebook groupware app.
The reason I gave in Monday's piece was convenience. Right now, I have Basecamp projects open with four different groups, meaning I have to remember passwords to four different Basecamps. That is in addition to the hundreds of sites I already have to remember passwords for for other things I do online. The more you can get the things you do under a single umbrella, the less work you have to do get to work.
One of the arguments made against the idea a productivity app in Facebook was that Facebook is for socializing, not work. That may be true, but work is social, and it is clear that Facebook has designs on professional networks like LinkedIn and Xing. In the past few months they added "Networking" to the looking for options, and some people have already started using Facebook for professional networking. More useful work and productivity apps will likely find an audience at Facebook among those people.
Further, there is an untapped market of college students -- the site's core user base -- that could benefit from having a simple groupware tool to use for organizing and collaborating on school projects, who have likely not heard of Basecamp, GoPlan, and the rest. Because many college students already spend so much time on Facebook, having that tool right there are their disposal would be helpful, not a hindrance. If you really can't ignore the Pirate vs. Ninja requests for a few hours to get some work done, you may need your doctor to up your dose of Adderall because the ADD is getting bad.
Also in the comments of my post Monday, a reader directed us to a recently launched Facebook groupware tool called MyOffice. Built by three Columbia University students, the application is far closer to the type of thing I was looking for when I began writing.
While MyOffice is certainly not a replacement for Basecamp, it is definitely a step in that direction and a useful tool for students working on group projects. MyOffice includes a private discussion board, file sharing, a schedule, and to-do lists. Each of the tools are very basic and could use some added functionality (like the ability to assign priority to tasks, for example, or to create more than one separate task list, or the ability to attach files to discussion board posts), and it would be hard for me to switch from Basecamp to any tool that didn't include a Writeboard equivalent. Though limited in functionality, however, the tools are all easy to use and work well. Each project gets its own dashboard with a helpful activity stream that keeps you on top of the latest moves by team members.
MyOffice may be basic, but the foundation is there for a solid groupware/productivity tool, and it is certainly enough for students. This is the sort of application I have been hoping to see more of ever since the launch of the Facebook platform -- apps that are useful, and simplify our lives outside of Facebook by bringing the things we use each day into a single location. I hope this is the start of trend in the Facebook application ecosystem.
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Thanks for the mention Josh,
I am still not convinced, business networking I can see is useful. Have you ever tried working when you have IM open and all your m8s online?
I live in backpack and I could see the value of something like that in facebook...
Posted by: Darren Stuart | November 15, 2007 11:29 AMWell, maybe my perspective is skewed since the company I work for is 100% virtual -- so I have IM open all day (it's the primary method of communication between Marshall, Richard, and I), and I write fairly often about Facebook -- so hanging out there and trying new apps is part of the job. ;)
That said, the 10,000 pirates vs. werewolves vs. flying pepperoni pizzas invitations I get everyday are kind of annoying. It would be nice to be able to permanently block some of those apps.
Posted by: Josh Catone | November 15, 2007 11:56 AMtotally, even worse my firefox is throwing errors so I can't get rid of the invites.
I think you should be able to ban certain users from sending you invites. I have someone on my friends that just sends me invites to stuff all day.
Posted by: Darren Stuart | November 15, 2007 12:39 PMcan someone explain to me the thinking, or lack of, whereby an app developer creates a business app for FB, but doesn't enable users to install it on fan pages (that are designed solely for business users?).
Posted by: Mark Mayhew | November 15, 2007 1:24 PMhttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=8431870131&ref=mf
@Josh: Thanks for the write-up! Your suggestions about enhanced functionality are extremely helpful. Adding writeboard functionality in particular is at the top of our to-do list.
We agree with you that productivity applications will soon play a prominent role in Facebook. Entertainment apps will always be a huge part of the Facebook landscape, but we think once Facebook adds functionality to segment your contacts by group (friends, family, work, etc), then Facebook users will be far more open to the idea of business apps.
@Mark: Thanks for the tip on fan pages - we changed the setting, feel free to try it again.
Posted by: Dave Whittemore | November 15, 2007 4:06 PMJosh:
Thanks for the mention, and I agree with you that there is appeal in having connections to productivity tools in an environment like facebook. Apps like FaceBook could be good launch pads with a single-sign-on interface, but not really containers of "the productivity experience".
The widgetized clutter of a social "market" makes productivity less likely - with data and functions splattered all around. Social networking in the context of productivity may make sense, rather than productivity in the context of social networking. I am sure Microsoft is moving in this direction with their essential apps, and partnership with Facebook.
We have some awesome stuff coming in this direction, you will be one of the first to know!
Posted by: Joseph Pally | November 15, 2007 4:34 PMHey, you actually can block an application! I'm not quite sure if it'll block the requests, it certainly keeps the application spams off of my News Feed. Just go to the page for whatever application, and click the "Block " link in the bottom-right.
Posted by: Alan | November 15, 2007 9:33 PMFacebook is a great site, no doubt. But I guess it's not the best for students' collaboration. They keep socializing and forget all about work. So far we tried Wrike for a couple of group projects and they were pretty successful. The collaboration is built in the wiki-style and is so easy, that it took about 5 minutes for my students to adjust.
Posted by: Burny | November 15, 2007 11:58 PMMy only problem with this is that facebook groups do not allow apps as far as my experience from a few weeks ago tells me. So you can't add this app to a work-based group that you want to keep private (whether that's for your stealth-mode startup or your in class project). I'm going to check out MyOffice for sure, though, so thanks for the lead. And btw, I'm amazed at the assumption of the writer and others that people do not use facebook for business networking; don't you do any work virtually?
Posted by: wb-cd-jh | November 16, 2007 5:34 AMI made something like this for real estate projects because there are so many different groups of people involved in any real estate project whether it be commercial real estate or residential. It had all your standard groupware stuff with a slight real estate flavor, and then we integrated nicely into a social experience.
I thought it would be the future! But people, especially the older generation really love there desktop when it comes to entering gobs of work related data.
If anyone is curious its : http://www.mydealbook.com , feel free to sign up.
Furthermore , you shouldn't discount the pervasive nature of the google collaboration suite and how seamlessly you can add people through the biggest social network of all... email!
Posted by: Nima Negahban | November 16, 2007 5:44 AMJosh,
Clearly this is the direction that facebook is headed as it quickly expands beyond the college market. Yet not only is this a great idea for a facebook app, the app itself is really great as well! I've begun using it to collaborate on a project that my professional networking group is pursuing, and it has been really helpful so far.
Posted by: Eric Bogin | November 16, 2007 7:08 AMI read this article and then decided to give MyOffice a try. I'd just like to say thanks for mentioning it here, I really love what it does, even if it is really simple.
It let's me collaborate on projects with friends (like a movie that we're making). We can schedule things, we can delegate tasks so everyone knows what they're supposed to be getting up to, we can have discussions even while we're all supposed to be at work. Hell, we can even show we agree with the comments people make in the discussion area.
I guess you can tell I really like it. :)
Posted by: Aaron | November 16, 2007 12:37 PMI agree that Facebook will morph into something bigger and different than it is today - otherwise Microsoft wasted a lot of money. Users coming of age will continue to use Facebook, just in different ways - and one of those ways will be productivity and collaboration.
Posted by: Robert Einspruch | November 16, 2007 5:37 PMSeems like Basecamp should be made into a Facebook app. itself.
Posted by: David Mackey | November 18, 2007 2:05 PMDon't those saying "its not for work" wonder what the likes of Microsoft and co are using it for? Big corporates are one of the biggest users of facebook, they just do it behind closed doors.
Posted by: Josef Davies-Coates | November 19, 2007 4:06 PM