You don’t have time for all the reading? Here’s the conclusion:

Linkedin is clearly targeted at white-collar [1] professionals (controllers, project managers, managers, senior directors, business owners …) while you will find little or no blue-collar [2] professionals on the network. Facebook apps are targeted at blue-collar professionals and jobs and therefore are covering a space that was previously not covered by any professional network.

Our understanding is that professionals who are pursuing a consistent and growing career path, clearly separating personal activities from professional relations will NOT use Facebook apps as their preferred professional social networks, while those (arguably blue-collar workers) that do not plan a career may find it useful to navigate job opportunities and passively exposing to staffing firms while socializing with friends and playing games on Facebook.  The separation line between professional and personal is very thin on Facebook, so it may be very convenient. The opportunity is huge for staffing firms, with access to all Facebook addicts and therefore passive candidates.

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How we got to the conclusion:

Ok, so after all the hype, we finally decided to join the 3 most popular so-called professional network apps for Facebook. Those names are (today) Talent.me, Beknown.com (Monster.com’s desperate attempt to jump into social networks) and Branchout. For those who may not be so familiar with these apps, they basically are Facebook applications that helps you manage your professional network. One of them will be the application that will kill Linkedin (or so they say). It would be wise to check them out before reaching a conclusion. This is the sort of emails that you receive when you join:

Thanks for joining – the Professional Networking App on Facebook! Our goal is to build the best tool for advancing your career.

Unleash the power of your friend and professional network with the app! Here are a few of the many things you can do:

Search over 3 million jobs
Showcase your talents to employers and recruiters
Get endorsed by your friends & colleagues
Find recruiters to help you with your job search
Get inside connections for leads and referrals

So go ahead – connect, endorse and share with your friends and colleagues.

When you join the apps, they let you import your Linkedin’s full profile (Beknown also lets you import your Monster profile). That’s good since it will let you be up and running in no time. They will also ask to import all your professional connections. Is that wise? I wouldn’t say so. Let’s see first what these platforms offer.

They basically offer the same that Linkedin does (it’s quite stunning to check that all of them offer the same basic treats, no differentiation!):

• Add connections (Grow Network)
• Update headline (There is  a Wall of updates from connections – Activity feeds)
• Make suggestions to connections, Endorsements
• Add talents (similar feature to newest Linkedin’s – with questionable value)
• Jobs (promote, post, share, apply, …)

Jobs may be the single most important section of the apps. Today they are only useful within USA, since it does not support jobs outside that country. Interestingly enough, all what they do today (due to their limited internally generated open positions) is connect with outside platforms, like indeed.com for Talent.me and monster.com (obviously) for Beknown.  In order to promote job listings, posting a job offer is free today so it may be a good opportunity for staffing firms to jump on these tools soon.

Conclusion:

Linkedin is clearly targeted at white-collar [1] professionals (controllers, project managers, managers, senior directors, business owners …) while you will find little or no blue-collar [2] professionals on the network. Facebook apps are targeted at blue-collar professionals and jobs and therefore are covering a space that was previously not covered by any professional network.

Our understanding is that professionals who are pursuing a consistent and growing career path, clearly separating personal activities from professional relations will NOT use Facebook apps as their preferred professional social networks, while those (arguably blue-collar workers) that do not plan a career may find it useful to navigate job opportunities and passively exposing to staffing firms while socializing with friends and playing games on Facebook.  The separation line between professional and personal is very thin on Facebook, so it may be very convenient. The opportunity is huge for staffing firms, with access to all Facebook addicts and therefore passive candidates.

[1] See white-collar’s wikipedia definition here

[2] See blue-collar’s wikipedia definition here