'Facebook at Work' is Facebook's secret project to compete against Microsoft, Google

Facebook is reportedly working on a new technology that will compete with Microsoft Office and Google, according to the Financial Times, which cited people familiar with the matter.

The social media giant is developing a new product called "Facebook at Work" and is designed to allow users to chat with colleagues, connect with professional contacts and collaborate over documents, competing with Google Drive and Microsoft Office, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company's new, enterprise-focused product will be similar to the functionality of its current site, with a newsfeed, groups and messaging capability.

"Facebook is secretly working on a new website called 'Facebook at Work'" that would allow users to "chat with colleagues, connect with professional contacts and collaborate over documents", it said.

However, it will also include collaborative tools for work on shared documents. Facebook at Work will be entirely separate from personal accounts, with no information from a user's social profile appearing on his or her professional page, and vice versa.

Microsoft's Office 365 offering, which operates off the cloud, includes Yammer - an internal corporate chat service that it bought in 2012 - as well as OneDrive and SharePoint for document sharing. Google is also a fierce competitor in the shared documents space with Google Drive.

Facebook last month reported its quarterly profit nearly doubled to $802 million but saw its stock pounded after outlining a plan to invest heavily in the future instead of revelling in short-term riches.

"We are going to continue preparing for the future by investing aggressively, connecting everyone, understanding the world, and building the next-generation in computing platforms," Facebook founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said then.