Mega-trend of 2012: Facebook is The New Professional Hub Online

When Facebook was first launched in 2004, it was hard for anyone to imagine that it grow beyond its initial college audience. Now over 850 million people of all ages use Facebook, most logging in at least once a day. In recent years, Facebook was viewed as the “fun” social network, a place to play games and share personal photos. New reports show that Facebook has grown up, and is rapidly becoming the hub for professional activity.

18.4 million Americans credit Facebook for their current job according to the latest report by JobVite. This is nearly twice the number, who say they found their current job on LinkedIn. This makes sense based on the scale of Facebook, which has ten times the number of monthly users as LinkedIn. But other factors are important to highlight. One is the diversity of job seekers and job opportunities found on Facebook. LinkedIn has executive-level jobs for the top 10% of the workforce. These high-level jobs can be found on Facebook. The difference is that Facebook also has jobs for the other 90% of the workforce: military, nursing, temporary, retail, hospitality, and entry level jobs. These positions, and the people who can fill them, are rarely on LinkedIn, but they are all on Facebook. BranchOut operates the largest job board on Facebook with over 3 million listings, and BranchOut has millions of users globally, so we see this important difference on a daily basis.

Facebook is also becoming the professional hub because it’s where recruiters go to screen candidates. 91% of recruiters review job seekers’ social media profiles during the hiring process. 76% of those report checking Facebook, compared to 48% using LinkedIn. In 2012, online identity will be more important than ever. As job seekers recognize the importance of their Facebook presence, they will both clean up their personal Facebook profiles and create professional BranchOut profiles, which don’t include any personal information, like photo albums or videos.

The trend of Facebook being used for professional reasons will continue to grow as mobile internet usages increases. 77% of job seekers are already using mobile apps in their search. Much of this is on professional-oriented apps, like BranchOut’s mobile site (m.branchout.com), but a lot is on Facebook’s mobile application. 350 million Facebook users log in with their mobile devices. They can view company Facebook pages, message their friends about their careers, and view professional-related content.

Many companies have realized that Facebook is the platform on which to recruit talent. Some are just getting started. As more data is released on the increasing trend of Facebook being a both personal and professional platform, all companies that wish to compete in the global marketplace will invest in Facebook recruiting.
 

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