What 'Facebook at Work' Could Do for Facebook, Inc. (FB)

Today, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) unveiled "Facebook at Work," a version of its website for businesses, intended as a way for co-workers to interact. The product has been long-awaited, and it could allow Facebook to take the lead in a new market.

Facebook at Work is far from being the first product of its kind, as several companies already have platforms for co-worker interaction, such as Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Yammer, and Salesforce.com, inc.'s (NYSE:CRM) Chatter. However, Facebook appears to be in position to take workplace communication to a new level, given its already robust user base and proven ability to create successful products.

The company that could be hurt most by FB's latest development is LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD). By letting Facebook beat it to the office-communication punch, LNKD jeopardizes its position as the leading professional networking platform. If Facebook at Work gains popularity, FB will no doubt expand the platform, possibly branching out to areas that have been the strength of LinkedIn, such as job postings and search. LNKD already seems to see the writing on the wall, as it coincidentally announced on Tuesday plans to build a product meant to bring employees together.

If Facebook at Work does gain traction, and the company figures out how to monetize it, the product could take an already strong stock to even higher heights. Despite dropping 3.2% today, the security's current perch at $73.87 represents a roughly 94% increase from its IPO price of $38 in May 2012.

Despite its success on the charts, there are still pockets of pessimism surrounding FB. For example, the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.90 ranks just 2 percentage points from an annual extreme. This suggests short-term speculators are more put-skewed than normal, and a capitulation among bears could result in tailwinds for Facebook Inc.