The future of social networking, as I've predicted, seems to lie in catering to professionals who want to get in touch with each other. Whether to network for job, discuss business issues, or just share information. Without having to see pictures of each other playing beer pong or learning what songs their professional contacts are listening to.
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal affirms this belief, with an article about the growth of professional social networks, including one for our industry called AdGabber, that I'd never heard of, but seems to be a subset of AdRants, and which seems to be more of a traditional message board than a LinkedIn-esque networking site.
Though the article doesn't make a clear distinction between message boards and blogs and actual social networking sites, the line between them is getting blurrier by the day. But bottom line is that the ability to reach out to colleagues from all over and discuss issues related to work is something that continues to have great appeal.
AdGabber is good because it’s trying to focus on industry issues, moreso than Linked.
ReplyDeleteLinkedIn doesn't really focus on anything, does it? It kind of lets you find out where your friends are working, and lets recruiters find you/you find recruits.
ReplyDeleteI think they both have their purpose: most people aren't interested in any sort of online conversations about work.