Microsoft Teams is getting a Facebook-like feed and follow button – The Verge
Get ready to hit that like button and follow your coworkers.Get ready to hit that like button and follow your coworkers.by Tom WarrenMeta is shutting down its Workplace platform next year, but Microsoft is planning to keep the dream of Facebook at work very much alive. Multiple sources at Microsoft tell me the company has started testing a fully integrated Facebook-like feed inside Microsoft Teams recently.Teams users will be able to post to the feed, known as a Storyline, or reply to colleagues’ posts much like you would on Facebook. Microsoft is pitching this as a way for colleagues to share announcements, news, or progress on a project. It could also be used to congratulate colleagues on work goals or key milestones. I’d expect, in many cases, this will also be used to share the type of content you’d typically find on LinkedIn.Microsoft isn’t using LinkedIn to power this new feature, though. Storyline in Teams is built on top of Viva Engage, the Yammer replacement that Microsoft launched a few years ago. Viva Engage was already available inside Teams, but it was hidden away in a separate tab. Microsoft is now taking the Storyline feature of Viva Engage and integrating it deeply into the main interface of Teams.The main button in Microsoft Teams that you use to send a new DM or create a new channel will soon include an option to create a new Storyline post. These posts will also appear in a Storyline tab on people’s profiles, alongside the normal chat and files sections.You’ll even be able to follow colleagues like you’d follow a public figure on Facebook or Instagram, and any reactions or comments on posts will show up in the Teams activity feed. Sources tell me Microsoft is also working on paid features for Storyline, including the ability to see profile analytics if you’re willing to pay extra for Microsoft Teams Premium.IT admins will be able to control who can create new posts or announcements, but the moderation of posts will come down to individual employees and workplace policies. You wouldn’t expect colleagues to post holiday snaps on a Facebook-like feed at work, but given some of the heated posts in Microsoft’s internal Viva Engage communities, I wouldn’t be surprised if some businesses have to carefully manage who can and can’t post on Storyline.Microsoft first teased this Storyline integration into Teams at Ignite in November, but it flew under the radar given the sheer amount of news that comes out of the IT-focused conference. Storyline in Teams is due to be available in preview form early this year, and in recent weeks, Microsoft has started rolling it out internally to some versions of its Teams clients. That’s a good sign that it’s nearly ready for a public preview before broader availability later this year.Storyline is just one of many new features that Microsoft is planning for Teams this year. Copilot will soon be able to produce file summaries, pulling out the key parts of a Word document or PowerPoint presentation. Microsoft is also rolling out the ability to record the correct pronunciation of your name to share on your profile. Teams is getting live transcription support for multiple languages soon, and a new Super Resolution feature is being built to enhance video quality on Qualcomm-based Copilot Plus PCs. The new Super Resolution feature entered public preview earlier this week, alongside the rollout of a new calendar experience that finally integrates the Outlook calendar into Teams and includes month and split views.With Microsoft’s Build developer conference coming up in May, I’m sure there will be plenty more AI-powered features coming to Microsoft Teams this year, too.Microsoft’s Project Latitude, the Xbox strategy to bring more first-party games to more platforms, has been full steam ahead recently. Microsoft announced last week that Forza Horizon 5 is making its way to the PS5 soon, giving PlayStation owners one of the best Forza titles to date.Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition will join Forza this spring, after Age of Mythology: Retold launches for PS5 on March 4th. All three games were announced for PlayStation in blog posts, rather than being part of a Microsoft event or even a PlayStation one.While Forza appearing on PS5 might surprise some Xbox fans, it has been heavily rumored for months now. I also reported in Notepad in June of last year that Age of Empires and Age of Mythology were heading to PS5 in early 2025 and that Microsoft was also “working on some form of a Halo: Combat Evolved remaster that [was] also being considered for rival consoles.”Microsoft has been weighing whether to launch Gears of War and Microsoft Flight Simulator on PS5, too, as I first reported nearly a year ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft goes ahead with porting Halo and Gears of War soon, as Xbox chief Phil Spencer recently made it clearer than ever before that more Xbox games are coming to PlayStation.“It does mean more of our games shipping on more platforms, not just PlayStation. We love the work we do with Nintendo, we love what we do with Valve on Steam. Our games will show up in more and more places,” said Spencer in a podcast in January.While Xbox games on PlayStation are making the headlines right now, there will be announcements for Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2 console, too. The more powerful hardware means Microsoft can port a lot more Xbox games to Nintendo’s platform and fulfill its promise of bringing Call of Duty to the Switch.Thanks for subscribing and reading to the very end. If you’ve heard about any of Microsoft’s other secret projects, you can reach me via email at notepad@theverge.com or speak to me confidentially on the Signal messaging app, where I’m tomwarren.01. I’m also tomwarren on Telegram, if you’d prefer to chat there.A weekly newsletter by David Pierce designed to tell you everything you need to download, watch, read, listen to, and explore that fits in The Verge’s universe.© 2025 Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved
