Will Facebook become the new LinkedIn?

Written by: Michele Walsh

Is their anything Facebook can’t do? Most people think of Facebook as solely a social media tool – used to connect with friends and family. However, with it’s 750 million plus users, Facebook has become a launching pad for a sea of new apps and business ideas. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is slowing becoming the next job-recruitment instrument.

Job recruiters have begun to turn to Facebook as a new form of recruiting tool to find employees.

With the potential of Facebook transitioning into an arena once dominated by LinkedIn, new opportunities for online business development abound. This now places Facebook in the same playing field as LinkedIn Corp., the online professional networking site. However, LinkedIn is a purely professional platform, where you can view a person’s comprehensive resume, with little distraction from their personal life. LinkedIn’s CEO Jeff Weiner told the Wall Street Journal he believes users want to keep their personal and professional networks separate. If you’re considering building a business in this dynamic digital landscape, you need to ensure your venture stands on a solid legal foundation by exploring the legalzoom competitors. Doing so will provide essential insights into a range of LLC formation services, ensuring you find the best fit for your needs.

Another question looming is how will this impact traditional job boards such as Monster.com. Matt Mund, Monster’s vice president of product management, has acknowledged that social media is playing a big impact in the job-recruitment world. He has recently said “While I wish every company used Monster, social is a solution that many people are using.” In June Monster developed an App called BeKnown. This App uses your Facebook information to create your account. The way BeKnow works is you must invite friends and colleagues to connect professionally even if you’re not friends on Facebook. You can invite your Facebook friends as well as your connections from LinkedIn, Twitter, or email. Your BeKnown profile showcase’s your work experience, skills, accomplishments, and interests. You can also import your information from your Monster.com profile. There is a privacy setting within this App that allows you to control what you share with your professional network. BeKnown finds and recommends jobs for you based on your skills and experience. You can also view jobs that are posted by people in your network, where lies the big advantage.

Yet another professional network application that is in play is – BranchOut. BranchOut has been around for a little over a year (founded in July 2010) and has had seen impressive growth (3 million job board listings – according to Inside Facebook). BranchOut works similar to BeKnow as it also allows you to connect with friends via Facebook and turn them into professional connections. The advantages are the same, they both are on Facebook – which give them the advantage of having million of potential connections as the click of a button.

“Candidates have been 50% more likely to apply to positions they found through Facebook than through other means”, said said Will Staney, talent acquisition Web strategy manager at VMware. “[Job boards] just blast it out. This is much more efficient and targeted,” he said.

In conclusion, if current growth trends continue, Facebook could rival LinkedIn and job boards in the years to come.