The new Viva Engage social media platform will be integrated into Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft has unveiled intentions to compete with Facebook via Viva Engage. The company’s own social networking site believes it to be a flagship product.

According to Yammer the new product, which is part of Microsoft Teams, aims to improve on the experience of the outgoing Yammer Communities. It will have newly added features to connect people, find and share knowledge, express emotions, and find connections and associations at work.

Microsoft Viva Engage is largely a business-oriented application. It is designed to assist businesses in building community, sparking engagement with leadership. This app will also harness knowledge and answers, building personal networks in a manner similar to LinkedIn.

Viva Engage social media

The app is expected to promote interpersonal encounters with new hybrid working habits in which employees have lesser interactions.

The new Engage page, which will replace the existing Communities part, will be available for all versions of Microsoft Teams, including online apps, desktop clients, and mobile apps by the end of August.

Teams users who are already utilizing the Community panel will not need to make any changes: the transition will be seamless.

While Yammer is being phased out of Microsoft Teams, it will live on in browsers and mobile apps. Additionally, Yammer-posted narrative entries, stories, and dialogues will be viewable in the new Viva Engage platform.

All Viva Engage accounts will need to be licensed to use Yammer. It’s better to think of this as a rebranding process with several cosmetic and functional enhancements.

In the future, Microsoft claims it will have much more to offer shortly. So, it’s plausible that Viva Engage branding may extend as the tech giant efforts expand and develop its communication tools and video conferencing platforms.