Facebook Vs. LinkedIn

An article by Ayelet Noff    3 Comments

Many people have recently mentioned that they no longer see the value in being members of LinkedIn now that they have Facebook.

Jeff Pulver writes:

“This morning I made the decision to focus all of my professional business social networking contacts to be on Facebook. That means that I am no longer going to accept new LinkedIn requests. After spending the past few months using Facebook, I no longer see the value of LinkedIn. Why use a static site where the fun stops at the profile when there is a wealth of opportunity for vibrant interaction between users and groups of users on Facebook?”

So I asked myself, do I still see the value in LinkedIn? My answer is yes. I see LinkedIn as my professional network. I connect with members there on a professional basis. Through LinkedIn members can see a lot more information concerning my professional experience and background.

Here are three things LinkedIn does better than Facebook according to Chris Brogan:

“Sorting Contacts- I found myself needing to find someone in NYC to offer a couch for a friend. In Facebook, I searched around the Friends tab and couldn’t find a way to sort. Turns out, the way to sort friends is you go out to the main page, to the search bar, click Advanced Search, and then search your network and friends by the criteria you want.

In LinkedIN, you go to Contacts, click Advanced Search, and click sort by location. Done.

Passing Through Mail- Facebook sends my email account a message that says, “Rod Begbie has sent you a message.” And then I have to go log into Facebook to read it. LinkedIN sends me the whole thing, and then I can go log in and respond later. And Facebook doesn’t have FORWARD. I can’t send mail elsewhere. It’s not that I really want to use the in-system mail platform. It’s a little redundant. But if you’re going to give it to me, make it full-featured.

In LinkedIN, you get the straight email sent to your inbox, and you CHOOSE to go to LinkedIN to respond.

Reputation Management – If I’m using Facebook to manage my social network, there’s nothing there that tells a new visitor to my profile page if I’m worth engaging in a conversation. You can read my Wall (where people leave messages). You can view my friends. But that’s it.

In LinkedIN, there’s a recommendation system with a good sense of detail and authority.”

I agree. I think that professionals see LinkedIn as a far better channel to find potential business partners and employees. It may not be as exciting as Facebook, but it accomplishes its purpose.

Through Facebook I have also made some great professional contacts however the interaction process was  very different. To me Facebook is a social platform where I connect with people on a much more personal basis. I share my thoughts with them, my favorite applications, and my causes. Members get to know more about me as a person rather than only view me on a professional level.

I do think that LinkedIn is probably well aware of this situation and will try to do everything in its power to maintain its exisiting users by offering perhaps a more dynamic platform in the future. What surprises me, as Jeff also pointed out, is that someone hasn’t already created an application for Facebook that offers users LinkedIn-like functionality. Then LinkedIn would probably really freak out