Viva Engage vs Yammer

Microsoft Viva Engage is the rebrand of Yammer, but it's also more than a name change: the product has been re-architected, re-integrated, and given some new features. For organisations on Yammer or thinking about enterprise social, the differences matter.

The rebrand

In 2023 Microsoft renamed Yammer to Viva Engage as part of folding Yammer into the Microsoft Viva family. The classic Yammer URL (yammer.com) now redirects to engage.cloud.microsoft. The same content, communities, and conversations move with the rename — no migration required.

What's new beyond the name

• Native Teams integration — Engage is the default community surface inside Teams, not a separate web app users have to switch to.
• Communities replace the older "groups" concept, with more structured roles (community admin, member, follower).
• Leadership corner — surfaced posts from leaders, with focused engagement metrics (questions answered, posts engaged).
• Storylines — personal-feed posts from individuals, similar to LinkedIn but inside the tenant.
• Stories — short video and image posts.
• AMAs (ask me anything) — structured Q&A events with leaders.
• Answers in Viva Engage — a Stack Overflow-style Q&A surface for the org.
• Topics integration — posts can be tagged with Viva Topics for richer cross-content surfacing.

What didn't change

• The underlying community / conversation model is recognisably Yammer.
• Existing groups, files, and conversations carried over.
• Federation models and external network features carried over.
• The basic permission model (community membership, internal vs external networks).

How it fits with Teams

This is the most asked question: isn't this just Teams channels? No:

• Teams channels are for small group collaboration with shared files and meetings.
• Viva Engage communities are for large-scale, social-style discussion — hundreds or thousands of people, broad announcements, opt-in conversations.

A 5,000-employee company doesn't have a "general" Teams channel for everyone — it would be useless. It does have an "All employees" Viva Engage community for that traffic.

When Engage is the right tool

• Company-wide announcements with comment threads.
• Leadership communication beyond one-way broadcasts.
• Cross-functional communities (parents' network, cycling club, communities of practice).
• Knowledge sharing at scale where Q&A and search matter.
• Internal recognition programmes.

When it's not

• Project work — use Teams.
• Time-sensitive discussion — use Teams chat or channels.
• Document collaboration — use SharePoint and Loop.
• External community engagement — use customer communities or third-party platforms.

Licensing

Viva Engage basic features are included with most Microsoft 365 plans. Premium features — advanced leadership analytics, advanced AMA features, additional moderation tools — require Viva Suite or Viva Engage standalone licensing.

For organisations that previously had a Yammer footprint, Viva Engage is a worthwhile reinvestment. For those that never adopted Yammer, the question is whether enterprise social fits the culture — that's a strategy decision, not a tooling one.