Commentary by Ashley Camillo

The latest hype in our office has been over the professional network, LinkedIn. As Ben and Pete compete to see who has the most connections, I am slowly catching on to the LinkedIn excitement.

Since this is my first “real” job, my professional network is not as developed as my coworkers.

On flip side, I have been “in” with other social networks, specifically Facebook and MySpace, for a few years. While my network on LinkedIn is tiny, my network on MySpace reaches 194,992,104 people.

One day Pete asked me, “Why haven’t you invited me to Facebook?” I laughed at him because he is such a geek and explained that I didn’t have to invite him to get on, but that he probably did not want to join the Facebook network anyway – the reasoning being that Facebook was mostly used by my generation to meet new friends, find old friends and socialize.

After a few minutes, I realized my first instinct was wrong. It might not be a bad idea for Ben and Pete to join these social networks. These social sites which were once considered online playgrounds for teens are now useful recruiting tools and a new form of e-commerce.

It’s not about where Facebook and MySpace are now, but where they are going.

Facebook started off as a college community strictly. Universities had to sign on with Facebook and one could only register with a valid college email address. Professors, TA’s and other university staff could join the schools network and be a part of that online community. Students used this social site to post pictures, connect with friends and show off the glorified debauchery of the recent weekends.

Facebook then moved a step ahead and allowed anyone with a valid email address to join. At this point, businesses started using Facebook as a tool to “weed out” bad candidates. For example: a company’s hiring department could search for a candidate on Facebook and be able to find pictures of the candidate chugging beer and doing keg-stands.

The MySpace network allows anyone with an email address to join. Users can customize their WebPages to fit their personalities and designate specific professional networks that they are interested in. Companies have used MySpace in a similar way as Facebook by using it to weed out bad candidates. Businesses can also use MySpace as a tool by creating a webpage for the business and blasting out “bulletin” announcements.

While some companies are still using MySpace and Facebook as a tool to find bad candidates, some organizations are proactively using these social networks to find new job applicants, new consumers and even new clients. For example, Sidley Austin, LLP, a law firm, has its own network on Facebook. WorldatWork, the total rewards association, has its own group page on Facebook. Best Buy has a Career Recruiting application. These companies have tapped into a fresh resource – a network full of job-hungry graduates.

New applications are changing the face of these social sites. MySpace has a “MySpace Jobs” application, allowing candidates to search within the network for internships, part-time jobs and full-time jobs. Facebook has a “Jobster” application that gives the user personalized job alerts, resume posting and job advice from friends.

These social sights provide information management for consumers and businesses alike. Everything you want to know about any target market is available at your fingertips. Users of these sites provide information about their demographic, income, network interests and educational and professional experience.

Companies will be able to reach specific kinds of consumers and new growing demographic sectors. As media becomes more available, we must expect these networks to act as platforms and businesses connecting them to home, office and person.

Online social media sites have already started moving away from being just for teens to becoming a valuable professional tool. The point is that these social network sites are where people are. Use that to your advantage.