Internal Social Network: “How I Went From Workplace by Facebook to Talkspirit” (Testimonial)
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- Workplace from Meta has closed. Announced on 14 May 2024, normal use until 31 August 2025, data download until 31 May 2026: every organisation running on it had to move.
- GIE Afer wanted to roll out Workplace in 2018. Its head of internal communication had already launched it successfully at her previous employer.
- Aviva, which ran the group’s IT, had blacklisted Facebook on every workstation, as banking and insurance security rules demand. An alternative was needed.
- Talkspirit was chosen for an interface as easy as Workplace and for white labelling, then for the hands-on support during change management.
- Features are on a par, the rest is where they differ: Talkspirit leads on roadmap, technical integration and support, Workplace led on statistics.
- Three goals to serve: informing people daily, getting employees to speak up, and creating cross-team connections among nearly 150 employees.
Workplace from Meta (formerly Facebook) was long seen as THE enterprise social network, carried by worldwide name recognition. That “Workplace reflex” is now moot: Meta announced the shutdown on 14 May 2024, with normal use until 31 August 2025 and then read-only access to download data until 31 May 2026 (TechCrunch). The product page now states that Workplace has been unavailable since May 2026. Every organisation running on it had to move, and we drew the lessons of that closure in a dedicated article. The testimonial below tells the story of a company that switched long before the announcement, for other reasons.
Even before that announcement, more and more SMEs were looking for alternatives to Workplace. It is therefore often via a Google search that our clients discover Talkspirit and its strong customer orientation, notably for French SMEs. This testimonial from a talkspirit client is an opportunity to come back to these specificities making talkspirit unique, and so relevant for SMEs (20 to 2,000 employees).
In mid-2018, Madleen TROUVÉ joins GIE Afer, a French association specializing in retirement savings and life insurance since 1976 and a partner of Aviva, as Head of Internal Communication, in a context of profound transformation (especially digital). Determined to set up Workplace by Facebook, which she had successfully deployed at her previous employer, she finally opted for talkspirit and does not regret her choice. Far from it!
She tells us about this experience on the talkspirit blog.
Read also: Talkspirit: the best alternative to Workplace by Facebook?
Initially, an Immediate-Reaction Feeling for Workplace
As Madleen joined GIE Afer, the company was undergoing a major transformation: relocation, changing professions and tools, overhauling digital uses. A destabilizing context for the almost 150 employees of the EIG, which needed assistance to the change.
Read also: 5 reasons to prefer talkspirit over Facebook Workplace
Internal communication therefore had to address 3 major challenges:
- Communicating information/news to employees on a daily basis
- Encouraging employees to express themselves, to give feedback and to report back (which was totally new)
- Creating a transversal link in the company
At that time, the only means of internal communication existing within GIE Afer was still email. Madleen began looking for a tool capable of supporting the cultural and practical change.
She says: “I had just come from a network of entrepreneurs (the Réseau Entreprendre) where we had set up Workplace 2 years earlier, to replace an ‘in-house’ solution that had not been convincing. At the time, Workplace was just starting up in France and was offering the platform free of charge to associations: for us it was a golden plan! We used Workplace as an internal communication tool but also as a project management tool (both to support entrepreneurs and to deploy the new CRM). The benefits were multiple and the users were satisfied with the ease of use of the tool”.
The need for a collaborative tool made itself clear at GIE Afer, so Madleen naturally turned to Workplace.
Facebook Blocked, an Alternative to Workplace Needed
However, Aviva (which by then managed the entire IT part of GIE Afer) blacklisted Facebook (and therefore Workplace) on all employees’ computers. The IT security standards applied in the banking-insurance sector are drastic and do not accept any flaws or data risks. Facebook, like all the major social media players, is therefore very often blocked on contract managers’ workstations. “So we had to find an alternative to Workplace.”
Yammer was considered but required too long a set-up time because it was too dependent on Aviva’s IT environment. “By benchmarking existing solutions, I discovered a French actor in full development: talkspirit. What struck me immediately was the interface: talkspirit was as ergonomic as Workplace, but also adaptable to the company’s colors. A real white label allowing employees to take better ownership of the tool!”
Features: Tie, With a Talkspirit Advantage on the Product Roadmap
In terms of features: talkspirit is quite similar to Workplace. A chat, a videoconference, profile pages and a news feed with posts form the backbone of the platform. The desktop version and the mobile version are quite equivalent, with good ergonomics: whether it is Workplace or talkspirit, teams can easily pick them up.
Product Roadmap and Customer Care: Talkspirit is Favorite
On talkspirit, Madleen notes the impression of using a “living” platform in constant evolution. That’s thanks to regular updates by talkspirit’s technical teams.
“Actually, the customer’s place in the product roadmap is not the same. With talkspirit, I have the feeling that we really have an impact on future decisions to develop the tool. With Workplace, we are quickly confronted with Facebook’s inertia and its own constraints. Specific upgrades are rarely possible, even if they would be necessary for users. As a customer I had little say in the roadmap.” At talkspirit evolutions are discussed ahead of time, tested in beta and adjusted thanks to customer feedback. Regular developments, the majority of which come from customer and user suggestions.
Read also: 5 advantages of collaborative work
Administrator Experience: Tie
Finally, as an Administrator “I have a preference for talkspirit”: firstly because of the personalized accompaniment during the important phases of the project. For a tool that requires change management, it’s a real distinguishing asset!”
” Also, talkspirit is easier to use: there is no need for specific IT support. As communication manager, I am completely autonomous (for mass imports for example) and in the event of a problem, the account manager helps me so that I don’t get stuck. However, the statistics part of Talkspirit is really behind Workplace.”
Technical Integration: Advantage Goes to Talkspirit
In terms of technical integration into the existing environment, “talkspirit surprised me with its flexibility and ease of administration. There is no need for technical expertise, everything is done very easily, with no need for IT intervention.
On Workplace, contrarily, you can quickly see that everything has been thought out for customers who have an integrated IT department. Mass imports via excel files required a specific level of encoding that was difficult for the uninitiated to overcome. It was quickly necessary to install a link between our CRM and Workplace in order to make account creations and deletions more fluid.”
Technical Support: Advantage Goes to Talkspirit
“In the event of a problem, talkspirit’s technical support is in French, which is appreciable for our employees (some are less comfortable with English) who are autonomous in reporting any incidents. It is also possible to get in touch by chat and get a quick answer. Conversely, the escalation system on Workplace was done through the Administration area, which limited the proximity with the Facebook teams.”
IN SUMMARY, Talkspirit’s Main Strengths:
- Administrator/user support responsiveness
- French-language support
- Regular developments in the features
- Support during the key moments of the ESN project
- Customer listening in managing the product roadmap
- Clarity and predictability of license costs
- Customer events once or twice a year to meet the team, have an insight on the roadmap, and share your own experience with other customers.
Read also: How to choose your internal communication tool
What this account tells teams that have left Workplace
GIE Afer made its choice back in 2018, over an IT security rule. Since May 2026 the question no longer arises in the same terms: Workplace has closed, and every organisation running on it had to pick another platform. The criteria Madleen Trouvé used at the time are still the ones that make the difference after a switch: the language the support team speaks, an administrator who can work without the IT department, a real say in the roadmap, predictable licence costs, and a fit with the security rules of a regulated sector. That last point feeds into a wider debate on digital sovereignty, which a service shut down elsewhere makes very concrete.
| Criterion | What GIE Afer says | Edge |
|---|---|---|
| CriterionCore features | What GIE Afer saysChat, video conferencing, profile pages and a news feed on both sides, picked up just as fast on desktop and mobile | EdgeTie |
| CriterionProduct roadmap | What GIE Afer saysLittle say in what Meta shipped, changes discussed upfront and tested in beta at Talkspirit | EdgeTalkspirit |
| CriterionAdministrator experience | What GIE Afer saysPersonalised support during the key phases of the project, valuable for change management | EdgeTie, with a stated preference for Talkspirit |
| CriterionStatistics and reporting | What GIE Afer saysTalkspirit’s statistics are judged to lag behind Workplace | EdgeWorkplace |
| CriterionTechnical integration | What GIE Afer saysBulk imports with tricky encoding and a CRM connection needed on Workplace, administration without IT on Talkspirit | EdgeTalkspirit |
| CriterionSupport | What GIE Afer saysEscalation through the admin area on Workplace, support in the customer’s own language and over chat at Talkspirit | EdgeTalkspirit |
| CriterionAvailability in 2026 | What GIE Afer saysWorkplace has been unavailable since May 2026 | EdgeTalkspirit |
CONCLUSION
According to Madleen TROUVÉ (GIE Afer), “for a medium-sized company, talkspirit is a very interesting platform. Although it is very close to Workplace in terms of functionalities, Talkspirit stands out because of its proximity, both in terms of pre-launch support, the simplicity of technical integration, the responsiveness of support in the event of a problem and the professionalism of the teams. We have the impression that we are moving forward with a real partner who understands our various issues”.
Want to challenge your “Workplace instant-reaction”? Contact us or ask for a personalized demo or start a free trial.
FAQ
No. The official product page states that Workplace has been unavailable since May 2026. Meta announced the shutdown on 14 May 2024: normal use until 31 August 2025, then read-only access to download data until 31 May 2026. Every organisation running on it had to move to another platform.
Because Aviva, which ran the GIE’s IT at the time, had blacklisted Facebook, and therefore Workplace, on every employee workstation. Security standards in banking and insurance usually block the major social platforms on contract managers’ machines. Yammer was considered too, but ruled out because setting it up would have taken too long.
GIE Afer is the economic interest grouping of Afer, a French association specialising in retirement savings and life insurance since 1976 and a partner of Aviva. It had close to 150 employees when the project started in 2018, in the middle of a deep transformation: a move to new premises, changing roles and changing tools.
Broadly yes: chat, video conferencing, profile pages and a news feed form the backbone of both platforms, on desktop as well as mobile, and teams pick up either one easily. The differences GIE Afer reported were about the product roadmap, technical integration, support and statistics.
On statistics. GIE Afer’s head of internal communication considers Talkspirit’s statistics to be well behind those of Workplace. It is the only criterion in the testimonial where the comparison favours Workplace.
GIE Afer’s account points to five criteria: the language your support team speaks and how fast it answers, an administrator who can work without the IT department, a real say in the product roadmap, predictable licence costs, and a fit with the security rules of your sector. Our guide to choosing an internal communication tool walks through the process.
