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Tomfoolery introduces Anchor, a Facebook for the workplace

Tomfoolery's Anchor software allows co-workers to chat, share photos, and post interoffice updates. 

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Tomfoolery
Anchor, a new workplace app from Tomfoolery, launches today. Here, the app is seen on an iPhone screen.
  • By Matthew Shaer

Back in January, Tomfoolery, a California start-up cofounded by a pair of former execs from Yahoo and AOL, announced that it had picked up $1.7 million from a range of big-name investors. 

Today, Tomfoolery introduced its first official piece of software, Anchor, which it describes as a "social app for work." Judging from a list of features posted to the Tomfoolery site, Anchor is a combination of Twitter, Facebook, and Google+: Users can create groups, post updates, share photos, and chat with colleagues. There's also a directory function for keeping track of companywide contact information. 

The idea behind Anchor, cofounder Kakul Srivastava wrote today on the company blog, was to foment a stronger connection among co-workers. 

"These are the people with whom we spend more of our waking time, every day, than we do anyone else," Ms. Srivastava wrote. "We go through new hire orientation with them and decipher benefits packages. We go to lunch with them, and take up running with them. We fight battles alongside them, and, sometimes, against them. We argue over who really reserved the conference room." 

Anchor officially launches today both in Web-browser form and as a free iOS app; Android and Google Glass versions will likely follow. 

According to Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch, Tomfoolery is also in talks with a range of start-ups with the goal of integrating Anchor into other apps. 

"The bottom line for me is that Tomfoolery is small (only 10 people), full of experience, and hungry," she adds. "This makes them more likely to move fast  faster than a now very large Yammer, owned by an even larger Microsoft – and maybe break a few things in the process."

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