Which One is Better?

LinkedIn. Identified. BranchOut.

What do these words all have in common? You guessed it…they are all professional networking sites connecting socialites with big name employers such as Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, etc. In fact, a lot of Fortune 500 companies use these sites to recruit new hires. The question is…Which one is better?

Social and Professional Networking Sites

All three have their own pros and cons. LinkedIn launched in May 2003, and has over 100 million users who independently create their own professional profiles. Then came Identified, which launched in 2009 and already has over 50 million profiles created. BranchOut is the newest professional networking site and after its launch in July 2010, it already has accumulated over 400 million users. Talk about rapid growth! How on earth did BranchOut and Identified accumulate all of those users in a short amount of time? 

The answer is simple…Facebook. BranchOut is fully incorporated on Facebook; thus, giving them access to the social media giant’s 850 million+ user platform. But which is better… a professional networking site that uses Facebook to acquire profiles/users (aka - BranchOut) or a professional networking site that isn’t fully integrated with Facebook (aka - LinkedIn)? If you ask me, I would hands down say it is quality over quantity when talking about anything in a professional/job related manner. In my eyes, there needs to be separation between professional networking sites and social networking sites. After all, isn’t there a concept called “work/life balance?” 

For further readings, I recommend the following articles:

"Employers, Get Outta My Facebook"

"Identified Hits 1.5M Active Users, 202MProfiles, But Can It Beat BranchOut (Or LinkedIn)?"

(Speaking of networking, if you would like to learn more about my professional life...check out my LinkedIn profile by clicking here.)