Microsoft’s Yammer Brand is Being Retired in Favor of Viva Engage

Microsoft announced today that Yammer, the enterprise-focused social networking tool that’s part of Microsoft 365 is going to be absorbed by Viva Engage. The latter is an evolution of the Yammer Communities app in Microsoft Teams, which Microsoft launched back in July 2022.

Microsoft originally acquired Yammer back in 2012 for $1.2 billion, and the company later integrated it with Office 365, then into Microsoft Teams. With Viva Engage launching last summer, it didn’t make a lot of sense for Microsoft to keep maintaining two different social platforms for enterprise users.

“In an increasingly distributed world of work, community engagement is essential to how people and teams come together and is a critical pillar of the employee experience, which is why last year we introduced Microsoft Viva Engage, an evolution of the Yammer Communities app in Microsoft Teams, as the newest part of Microsoft Viva. We’ve heard your feedback on this initial step and in the coming year, all of Yammer will become Viva Engage, retiring the Yammer brand,” wrote Seth Patton, General Manager, Microsoft 365.

Viva Engage took a lot of inspiration from consumer social networks, going as far as copying the popular Story format popularized by Snapchat and Instagram. The app is available within Microsoft Teams alongside other modules for Microsoft Viva, the company’s new employee experience platform.

The retirement of Yammer will start next month when the Yammer mobile apps for iOS and Android will be rebranded to Viva engage. In addition to this new standalone experience on mobile, Viva Engage will remain available via the Teams mobile app.

In March, Microsoft will also rebrand the existing Communities app for Outlook on the desktop and the web to Viva Engage. The name change will be automatic, and the new Viva Engage app in Outlook will continue to provide access to conversations and community updates.

“Over the next year, all of Yammer will be rebranded into Viva Engage,” Microsoft said in an FAQ. “This does not change the current capabilities, value, or pricing to Yammer for existing Microsoft 365 customers or M365 SKUs.”

Lastly, Microsoft is also making some new Viva Engage features generally available today. The Leadership Corner tab will allow leaders to connect with employees through posts, campaigns, and events including Ask me Anything (AMA) sessions. Viva Engage is also adding Advanced Analytics providing detailed data bout engagement on the platform.