Business Opportunities Weblog

March 13, 2008 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Computerworld:

Social networking is no longer the Next Big Thing; it’s now as much part of our Web experience as search engines. Previously considered the province of kids who wanted to keep up with class gossip, social networking services are being co-opted by grownups who are examining ways to use them both within and outside of their places of employment.

At least one social networking site, LinkedIn, has been vying for an adult usership since its introduction in 2003. LinkedIn allows users to create and maintain a list of their professional contacts (and friends as well); the purpose is to be able to network — to have access to your contacts’ contacts, and in that way further your professional outlook. You want to find a job? A new sales opportunity? Information about a client? Here’s a way to do that.

There are few other sites that are as focused as LinkedIn, but at least one has moved from being only for socializing to being a business tool as well.

Facebook began in 2004 as a site for college students — i.e., people with university e-mail addresses — to socialize online, and was only opened to the general public in 2006. Since then, it has rivaled MySpace as the place to hang out, but it has also attracted an increasingly adult audience who want to use it as a means to discuss their professions rather than their latest crushes.

So which is actually better for professional use, by both companies and employees (and would-be employees): LinkedIn with its focused approach, or Facebook with its multitude of applications?

To check this out, we came up with six familiar business scenarios and asked two of our writers to solve them: one by using Facebook, and one by using LinkedIn.

Read more.

Photo by CraigPJ.

In Internet, Networking, Social Network | 1 Comment