Are you LinkedIn?

Many of us belong to social networks but most of us do not think of them in terms of business or work. There are a few social networks that focus on those who work. LinkedIn is one of those sites (and the most popular). These sites are geared towards anyone who works, regardless of career or industry. Why, you may ask, would you want to use a site like this? Well first, it allows you to either reconnect or stay connected to current and past friends and coworkers. Second, the site is a great place to leverage connections to find a new job. Unless you’ve experienced one of these sites it is hard to explain the benefits of registering, but this is clearly another way to extend your job search.Today’s post will focus on several business social networks.

Business Social Networks:

• LinkedIn – According to Wikipedia, LinkedIn is “a business- social networking site founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003 mainly used for professional networking”. This site has become very popular over the last year. At the end of 2007, the sited had 3.2 million visitors per month and by May of this year there were more than 24 million registered users across well over 100 industries. The site allows users to link to colleagues from current and past employers, schools and any other group that may be defined. One of the features I like best is the “degrees of separation”. The site will show you how you may know a third party through an existing connection. Linked has job search functions as well formats which allow you to showcase your background. Clearly the “best in class” from what I’ve seen.
• Meettheboss – This is a brand new site from what I can tell and seems to be focused on Financial Services (a way to differentiate from other sites). One item I do not like is that it forces you to add your company website url as part of the registration. Two issues with this. First, you may not want to advertise the company you work for and second, what happens if your company is small and does not have a website (yes, there are still companies without websites!)? Unlike LinkedIn, there does not seem to be a way to search for people you may know. The interface is nice, but the site looks thin on functionality. I will keep an eye on this site to see how it fairs, but I’m not sure I get it yet.

Clearly, the value of any of these sites is determined by the number of people who are registered. As this type of social networking has become popular, quite a few new sites have popped up in the last few months. Since most people will focus on one or two of these sites, I think that the field will narrow in the medium term and I’m betting that LinkedIn is one of the winners.

I will review more sites such as these in the next few weeks. As usual, I will add these links to the “Other Resources” page.

Article By: CareerAlley

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.