Facebook Workplace is changing – here’s what you need to know

So this week, we’ve been thrilled to see a new and improved Workplace revamp announced at Facebook’s F8, their annual developer conference in Silicon Valley. If you’re a Premium Admin, you should already be able to see the new design. And if not, you can expect to see the slick new Workplace heading your way soon.

Here are the biggest changes you need to know about:

Jump straight to the content you need

The new Workplace redesign gives you instant access to three of the most important (and most-used) areas of the platform: Groups, Notifications, and Chat. With a quick click on the clean and uncluttered sidebar, you can switch seamlessly between all three – which makes staying up to date painless and easy.

But it’s inside the Notifications tab where things get interesting. Your notifications now come in an inbox-style format that lets you jump straight to the relevant content by clicking on each notification. And to help you manage what can sometimes be a huge influx of new activity, you can use the new drop-down menu to filter your notifications – by Unread, by Tags and Replies, or by alerts from your Pinned Groups.

In particular, we’ve seen a lot of excitement around the Tags and Replies filter. If you’re involved in lots of different groups or there’s a sudden burst of activity, you can use this filter to jump straight to the alerts that involve only you and your own content.

Get more work done without distractions

With the streamlined new interface from Workplace, you can now choose exactly what you want to see on the screen. By clicking on the small pop-up arrow that appears on your sidebars, you can hide either or both of the menus on each side. To the left, you can hide the menu that holds the Groups, Notifications and Chat bars – and to the right, you can hide the column that holds an overview of the group you’re on.

For anyone who finds themselves easily distracted when they’re trying to work, this is huge. With these sidebars out of the picture, you’re left with a simple, clean view of the content and posts of the group you’ve selected. Which means you can give your full focus to what needs to get done, without distractions from the Chat or Notifications panel.

Find the groups and people you need, faster

The new Workplace home page uses the machine-learning elements of the ‘work graph’ API to help you connect with the people and groups who are closest to you.

If that sounds technical, don’t worry. All you really need to know is this: your Workplace Home page makes it quick and easy to get to the groups and people who are most relevant to what you need. That means fewer clicks, less confusion, and less time wasted.

So what’s next for Workplace?

With every new iteration, Workplace by Facebook gets faster, easier, and more accessible.

There’s a growing momentum in the market for collaborative enterprise platforms, and Workplace has already cemented its position as a best-in-class package for tens of thousands of businesses all over the world.

As Workplace’s first partner in EMEA, we’ve helped countless businesses of all sizes get up and running and be more productive with Workplace. So if you’re looking for the best way into this new way of working, come and talk to us at Coolr – and stay tuned for more updates and Workplace news at it arrives.

Adam Clyne is chief executive and founder of Coolr