Facebook Enters the Professional Space

Meredith Darling | @merdar If you listen closely you can hear Facebook shareholders around the world letting out a quiet sigh of relief. After the third and largest lockup period expired, shares rose about 13% to $22.36 last Wednesday. There is still a long way to go until they reach the debut price of $38 but Facebook is still swinging, gloves up.

Meet Facebook's new Social Jobs Partnership App. Its purpose is to "connect great jobs with great candidates." In other words, its purpose is to give LinkedIn a run for its money. The app combines job search results from BranchOut, DirectEmployers Association, Work4Labs, Jobvite and Monster.com while LinkedIn's job board only lists jobs uploaded to LinkedIn directly. One of Facebook's partners in the project, National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), conducted a survey which revealed that 50% of employers are using Facebook in their hiring process. We can all agree that statistics like this aren't what pushed Facebook to create the app.

So why is this important? It marks an important shift in Facebook's strategy. It is now competing in the professional space. LinkedIn's stock felt a slight drop on Friday as well as Monster.com's. Side note: I'm interested to see how this will benefit Monster.com... doesn't this make their site useless for job-seekers?

If you ask me, users aren't looking for a one stop social site. We like to catch up with friends on Facebook, be professional on LinkedIn, random on Twitter, and dreamers on Pinterest. This infographic explains the mindsets of people on personal versus professional social networks. Here is a snapshot:

Do you think Facebook's Social Jobs app will be a success? Are you looking for a one stop social site? Give us your feedback by commenting below or on our Facebook page.