Both of these tools help you build the tech stack needed for efficient teamwork. In this article, you’ll discover which platform fits your team’s working style, leading to a better team and individual productivity.

Comparing Project Collaboration Features

Followings are the essential project work management features of these two platforms with comparison:

1. Discussion Channels

You can create a channel for your team members from the Groups section of Microsoft Teams. You can create separate channels for different skills a project needs, like graphic designers, content writers, copywriters, etc.

In a threaded channel, you can share comments, feedback, files, and more. Moreover, your team can create essential Microsoft files like Docs, PPT, or Excel sheets from the Files section within the channel. You can also choose the level of access by creating either a standard or private channel.

Discussion boards in Workplace from Facebook are more lively and people-centric. You’ve got a News Feed section that keeps everyone updated about the recent happenings in your workgroup. Furthermore, Workplace Groups shows better organization through separate tabs for Posts, Chat, Files, Members, Topics, etc.

2. Chat, Audio, and Video Calling

Microsoft Teams support high-quality audio and video meetings along with the texting service. These are also available for free if you don’t have a subscription.

However, paid plans can uplift project collaboration experience with features like Direct Routing, Phone Calling Plan, and external conferencing. You can also share your desktop screen with the audience during a virtual meeting.

Apart from the elaborate workspace social platform, Workplace from Facebook offers text messaging, audio calling, and video calling. You’ll find these features within the Groups or Chats section. But, it lacks in-built desktop sharing, as you need to download a Google Chrome extension to share your screen during a video call.

3. Sharing Files, Calendar, and Contacts

Flexible data exchange is the key to the smooth operation of projects and tasks. Teams have an elaborate interface for sharing anything and everything that you need during a project, like contacts, calendars, and documents.

For calendar and contacts sharing, you need to connect your Microsoft Teams group to a SharePoint site for your team. You can create a new calendar app in SharePoint that’ll function as a shared calendar within Teams.

On the Files tab of any Teams channel, you have file-sharing options. You can create, upload, or sync files from other cloud storage.

Workplace from Facebook enables you to upload and download project files from the respective Groups. You can upload several files with a limit of up to 50MB and videos less than 4GB.

Microsoft Teams is more flexible as it offers many technologies of content management for remote teams.

4. Monitoring Changes in Files

When all group members can access the files of a project, file version control is a challenging task. Thanks to an elaborate technology stack of Teams, you don’t need to worry about keeping copies of files.

Turn on the Version History feature for shared files on the SharePoint site for the project. The tool will automatically create new files when someone opens, edits, and saves an existing file. You can also restore to an older version whenever you need.

Workplace from Facebook is yet to offer such features, but you can see the version history of Knowledge Library contents, like changes made on a know-how list or a to-do list.

Comparing User Experience

The following feature comparisons between Teams and Workplace show what your team members can expect from these two platforms in terms of user experience:

1. Learning Curve for Deployment

Your team may need elaborate training on tools like SharePoint, PowerPoint, Excel, Forms, Power Automate, etc. Otherwise, they may not be able to utilize Teams and other collaborative apps to their full potential.

Workplace requires less or no training because team members are already familiar with its interface. The Workplace features like News Feed, Knowledge Library, Groups, Events, etc., work more or less than the Facebook app does.

2. Conversation Security and Privacy

Data privacy and security are a big challenge when it comes to creative and monetizable ideas. Therefore, whenever you’re working on remote collaboration software, you need to ensure the security of ideas and workflows.

Teams is a safe place for all of your creative ideas, as Microsoft invests a lot in security. All of its tools come with SOC 1 & 2, HIPAA compliance certificates, and ISO 27001. These are examples of the highest security standards.

Workplace from Facebook also comes with state-of-the-art security protocols for data transmission on the internet. It has security certifications like ISO 27018, SOC 2 & SOC 3, ISO 27001, and GDPR compliance.

3. Multi-Device Accessibility

Teams and other apps from Microsoft 365 are more into desktops than mobile phones. You’ll find Android or iOS apps for most Microsoft 365 apps like Teams, Outlook, Excel, etc.

However, you might face challenges when using those mobiles apps for core project work. Microsoft Teams mobile app is great for short conversations, video calls, or managing files that fit in your smartphone.

Workplace from Facebook is a mobile-first collaborative tool that comes with effortless navigation features for smartphones and desktops. If your team is working as a frontline workforce, Workplace keeps the members in the loop.

4. Integration With Third-Party Apps

Teams support multiple app integrations. For example, you can automate your workflows by integrating Teams with Zoom, Salesforce, Asana, ClickUp, Google Drive, etc. However, you may need third-party app integration tools like Zapier.

Workplace can connect with many third-party tools, like Dropbox, Google Workspace, Azure, ServiceNow, Microsoft 365, Zoom, etc. For app integrations, it doesn’t require any extra tools.

5. Optimization Opportunities

You can host Teams and other Microsoft 365 apps on a private server apart from using the tools on the internet. However, setting up Teams and its apps on your own server might require IT specialists if you don’t have specialized training.

Workplace from Facebook is quite simple to manage. Most teams don’t require any separate IT specialist to manage workspace data or systems. Moreover, your mobile app developer can effortlessly work with Workplace API without any external help.

Find Out What Your Team Wants

Workplace from Facebook and Microsoft Teams serve the same purpose, but they differ in the working style. Are you planning to allow more external users to work with the team? Is your team more comfortable using Microsoft 365? If yes, then Microsoft Teams should be able to fulfill all your collaboration needs.

But, if your team is spread out throughout the world, and they prefer to connect more often in creative ways, Workplace from Facebook is an ideal choice. You and your team can become more productive when your tools help you achieve your goals.