High expectations for the potential of Facebook-like social networks that work behind the corporate firewall have mostly met with frustration, but now a new player appears set to enter the game: Facebook.

According to a report in the Financial Times this weekend, Facebook is on the verge of launching a new service called “Facebook for Work,” which will bring all the familiar social networking metaphors to the workplace but in a separate sandbox from users’ personal Facebook accounts.

Facebook isn’t commenting, but the FT said the project has been proceeding in earnest for more than a year and is in beta test at several large companies. The journal speculated that Facebook could be looking to muscle in on LinkedIn’s territory as well as take business from Salesforce.com, which has its own Chatter app that allows users to chat, collaborate and more.

While these services are already well established among professionals, Facebook for Work will have what must be one of the the simplest learning curves of any enterprise tool that’s ever been released. It will incorporate familiar Facebook features like News Feed, messaging and groups, with the biggest difference being it cuts out all of the celebrity gossip and cat memes.

Facebook for Work users will reportedly have a separate account from their regular Facebook, so they can use the service strictly for work.

Facebook has been struggling with slowing member growth and defection of younger users to hipper services like SnapChat. The company has acquired its way into new markets favored by millennials and is presumably seeking ways to make its core service more of an essential utility to older members.

Ironically, Facebook is blocked by many companies to prevent their employees wasting time chatting with friends. A more ‘professional’ version might open the door at some companies that see Facebook as nothing more than a waste of time.

Then again, Facebook for Work may never see the light of day – for now it’s said to be just an early pilot program available to a test audience in London, so we can’t be sure if the idea will actually take off.

photo credit: Denis Dervisevic via photopin cc