Microsoft Teams is making its own social network, because why not

Do you know what this world needs? At this moment if your answer is anything but “another social media platform”, you are wrong. At least Microsoft thinks so. The company CEO Satya Nadella has announced plans to take on the likes of Facebook with Microsoft’s own social media platform.

Called Viva Engage, this platform is going to sit inside Microsoft Teams and aims to enhance the experience of outgoing Yammer Communities. Microsoft Viva Engage “will be a new and enhanced experience of the current Yammer Communities app for Microsoft Teams and brings new capabilities to connect people, find and share knowledge, express yourself, and find belonging at work,” Viva’s CVP Murali Sitaram explained in a blogpost.

Viva Engage will have features like storyline and stories which will allow employees to connect with their colleagues and share “thoughts, knowledge, and experiences though conversations, images, and videos”.

Microsoft’s Viva Engage has been created keeping the hybrid work mode in mind and through this platform, the company is looking to give leaders “new tools to shape culture and align their workforce by unlocking communication and engagement opportunities”. “And for employees, it provides new ways to build a sense of community, strengthen relationships with coworkers, share their work and perspective, and find answers to their questions,” Microsoft explained.

So how is this going to work?

Microsoft Viva Engage is coming in late August and once it rolls in, the Communities app on Microsoft Teams will be rebranded as Viva Engage and can be used on the desktop, on the web, and the mobile apps.

For users who are already using the Communities app, the admin will not need to make any changes to settings to bring in Viva Engage. Yammer customers will be able to deploy and pin Viva Engage on the left rail of Teams via the Teams Admin Center. Microsoft also said that the Viva Engage Storyline will open for public preview in late August.

“Viva Engage will continue to show the same network, home feed, and communities that you see today in Yammer. Any content created in Yammer.com or mobile – including community conversations, storyline posts, and stories – will be viewable in Viva Engage. Likewise, content created in Engage will show up in Yammer native experiences,” Sitaram explained in the blog adding that to use Viva Engage, an organisation must be licensed for Yammer.

For all practical purposes, Viva Engage sounds and feels like a business-oriented products, a model similar to what we’ve already seen on LinkedIn. Microsoft added that it has much more to share soon which indicates that we might see the company expand the Viva Engage branding further.

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