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I signed up for both in 2005. I haven't used FB since. I still use LinkedIn. FB is a liability to your career, LinkedIn is not. LinkedIn captures the social ne

I signed up for both in 2005. I haven't used FB since. I still use LinkedIn. FB is a liability to your career, LinkedIn is not. LinkedIn captures the social network that matters to business. FB captures the social network that matters to pyramid schemes.

indigoviolet 18y ago
IMO, the majority of people in the world are interested more in their "social" social network than in their "business" social network.
- angstrom 18y ago
  Agreed, but you're less likely to find falsified information on a LinkedIn page. The people on LinkedIn in are more likely to be real. That has considerably more tangible value IMO.
  - blurry 18y ago
    If you mean name, gender and location, then yes, those are less likely to be falsified. Everything else - everything that actually matters such as job titles, job descriptions, recommendations - is just as unreliable. I personally know many people who lie on their profiles. One of my former startup partners lists herself as a CEO, except we were never structured that way, and she was never the top in command. People inflate their resumes all the time - if they have a one-man consulting company, they are the Lead Architect, if they received options as part of their incentives package, they are a Founder, etc. Just look at all the recommendations. Literally everyone is Bill Gates and Mother Theresa rolled into one. I have yet to see a recommendation that simply says, hey - this guy is a competent programmer. Everyone is "world-class", "exceptionally talented", etc. In contrast, none of my friends falsify personal information on Facebook. The incentive simply isn't there.
- tomsaffell 18y ago
  This is true, FB's volume potential is higher than LI. But it is also true that those people who are interested in their "business social network" are accustomed to paying for services that create business value, sometimes paying handsomely. Those people interested in their social network are less accustomed to paying for "social services", and may be less able to put a value on the service (telecommunication services excepted).
  - gaius 18y ago
    It's not clear either that someone couldn't implement a LinkedIn clone on Facebook's API. FB isn't ignoring the corporate space, for example their "networks" feature is tied to a corporate email address anyone who is a member of a company network, you can trust that their identity is real. LinkedIn is even trying to get in on FB's turf, with its status updates.
  - indigoviolet 18y ago
    On the other hand, advertisers tend to want to advertise to the people interested in their "social social network". Advertising to job seekers is inherently limited.
mcargian 18y ago
Serious question: what do you do on linked in? What business value do you get? I know several recruiters and speakers who use LinkedIn with great success. But outside of those two fields, most of the people I talk to use linkedin as a glorified rollodex and nothing more. I would be really interested in examples of what you have used it for.
- olefoo 18y ago
  I've used it to look up customers, and people who work at various ISPs I was dealing with. I've also used it for the post-conference lookup to solidify connections that were made in person. It's main utility to most people comes in the job hunting phase, but I've found it useful for building and maintaining weak ties with lots of people. I'm always looking to grow my network, my public profile is at http://www.linkedin.com/in/laprice http://www.linkedin.com/in/laprice
- tomsaffell 18y ago
  I have a LI account, but I don't use it effectively, so I can't speak from personal experience (which speaks to your point) But I do believe businesses like Angstro could build a valuable business off LI (they could build it off FB too, but the value is much less obvious). This is, of course, an in theory statement, not an in practice one. Presumably LI could add Angstro like features themselves? http://www.techcrunch50.com/2008/conference/presenter.php?presenter=49 http://www.techcrunch50.com/2008/conference/presenter.php?pr... (I have no affiliation with Angstro)
- angstrom 18y ago
  Both in job hunting and filling positions. It goes both ways. Rather than trying to capture everything social it has focused on just capturing the career network and doing it well. If I'm on LinkedIn it's for a reason: Jobs. If I'm on Facebook it could be any number of reasons all of which probing raises privacy concerns.
  - mcargian 18y ago
    So, how often are you on linkedin then? every two years? Or how often do you change jobs?
azanar 18y ago
Can you explain what about Facebook is inherently dangerous to a career? Perhaps what some people put in their profiles would be damaging, but even that depends on what their field is, and how controlling and employee image focused their employer is.

indigoviolet 18y ago

IMO, the majority of people in the world are interested more in their "social" social network than in their "business" social network.

angstrom 18y ago
Agreed, but you're less likely to find falsified information on a LinkedIn page. The people on LinkedIn in are more likely to be real. That has considerably more tangible value IMO.
- blurry 18y ago
  If you mean name, gender and location, then yes, those are less likely to be falsified. Everything else - everything that actually matters such as job titles, job descriptions, recommendations - is just as unreliable. I personally know many people who lie on their profiles. One of my former startup partners lists herself as a CEO, except we were never structured that way, and she was never the top in command. People inflate their resumes all the time - if they have a one-man consulting company, they are the Lead Architect, if they received options as part of their incentives package, they are a Founder, etc. Just look at all the recommendations. Literally everyone is Bill Gates and Mother Theresa rolled into one. I have yet to see a recommendation that simply says, hey - this guy is a competent programmer. Everyone is "world-class", "exceptionally talented", etc. In contrast, none of my friends falsify personal information on Facebook. The incentive simply isn't there.
tomsaffell 18y ago
This is true, FB's volume potential is higher than LI. But it is also true that those people who are interested in their "business social network" are accustomed to paying for services that create business value, sometimes paying handsomely. Those people interested in their social network are less accustomed to paying for "social services", and may be less able to put a value on the service (telecommunication services excepted).
- gaius 18y ago
  It's not clear either that someone couldn't implement a LinkedIn clone on Facebook's API. FB isn't ignoring the corporate space, for example their "networks" feature is tied to a corporate email address anyone who is a member of a company network, you can trust that their identity is real. LinkedIn is even trying to get in on FB's turf, with its status updates.
- indigoviolet 18y ago
  On the other hand, advertisers tend to want to advertise to the people interested in their "social social network". Advertising to job seekers is inherently limited.

mcargian 18y ago

Serious question: what do you do on linked in? What business value do you get? I know several recruiters and speakers who use LinkedIn with great success. But outside of those two fields, most of the people I talk to use linkedin as a glorified rollodex and nothing more. I would be really interested in examples of what you have used it for.

olefoo 18y ago
I've used it to look up customers, and people who work at various ISPs I was dealing with. I've also used it for the post-conference lookup to solidify connections that were made in person. It's main utility to most people comes in the job hunting phase, but I've found it useful for building and maintaining weak ties with lots of people. I'm always looking to grow my network, my public profile is at http://www.linkedin.com/in/laprice http://www.linkedin.com/in/laprice
tomsaffell 18y ago
I have a LI account, but I don't use it effectively, so I can't speak from personal experience (which speaks to your point) But I do believe businesses like Angstro could build a valuable business off LI (they could build it off FB too, but the value is much less obvious). This is, of course, an in theory statement, not an in practice one. Presumably LI could add Angstro like features themselves? http://www.techcrunch50.com/2008/conference/presenter.php?presenter=49 http://www.techcrunch50.com/2008/conference/presenter.php?pr... (I have no affiliation with Angstro)
angstrom 18y ago
Both in job hunting and filling positions. It goes both ways. Rather than trying to capture everything social it has focused on just capturing the career network and doing it well. If I'm on LinkedIn it's for a reason: Jobs. If I'm on Facebook it could be any number of reasons all of which probing raises privacy concerns.
- mcargian 18y ago
  So, how often are you on linkedin then? every two years? Or how often do you change jobs?

azanar 18y ago

Can you explain what about Facebook is inherently dangerous to a career? Perhaps what some people put in their profiles would be damaging, but even that depends on what their field is, and how controlling and employee image focused their employer is.