What is Facebook?
Facebook was created in 2004 as an online social network for Ivy League College Students. Needless to say it has grown since then and now its a household name. Facebook currently has more than 150 million active users. It seems like everyone is on Facebook, but is it viable for professional development and career advancement? In short, the answer is YES.

Why I love It?
With Facebook you can leverage the immense selection of “Applications” to help advance your career or develop professional relationships. With applications for almost everything, you can easily create resumes, find jobs, and much more all through the applications offered by Facebook. Theres more of course… in an article that will be posted later on which is Facebook
“Not Your Average Social Network”!

How Can you Use It?

Facebook also has dozens of potential uses for professional development. For more details check out my Facebook Applications For Job Hunting which I will be posting later on. Here are some of the more important features:

1. Apps – With thousands of apps to choose from, there are a wide variety of professional development related applications available. From Resume Apps, to Job Hunting apps, you can find it all on Facebook and for Free!

2. Groups – Groups allow you to meet up and collaborate with those who share the same interests as you. Whether your interest lies within your chosen industry, a hobby or even job hunting there is group for everything!

3. Facebook PPC – So you want to think WAY outside of the box? How about advertising that you are looking to be hired for a specific position? Land your dream job with PPC? More on this later…

4. Powerful Search Engine – Finding people on facebook is quite easy. Find people from your school, current jobs, past jobs, and much more.

What is Twitter?
Twitter is a free to use social networking/micro blogging service that allows its users to send and read messages known as “tweets”. Tweets can be up to 140 character in length. When used as a medium for finding jobs and gaining valuable insight about a potential employer one must “think outside the box” a little. I will go over this in full detail in Chapter 5!

Why I love It?
Twitter is awesome! I absolutely love it! For me Twitters power lies in interacting with people the SECOND they post something relevant to you. So Twitter is literally “Right Now”, it’s the “in” thing and everyone seems to be doing it. I leverage twitter in many ways, but primarily I use it as a news source, a medium of communication with my “followers” I’ll go more into all of this in a separate article called Twitter “Tweeting Like A True Professional”!

How Can you Use It?
There are literally 100’s of reasons why someone would use twitter, but in this book we focus primarily on the use of Twitter for job hunting and professional development. So let’s take a look at a few of the most important points about Twitter:

1. Follow the leaders – you can get valuable insight into the world of those you follow and love to hear about. (Helps you to stay on tip of your chosen industry)

2. Get Hired – Twitter has an incredible search engine which allows you to search for jobs in your area!

3. Get acquainted – Follow those who you feel can help you better yourself in some way. Potential employers, employees at a specific company, people with similar interest, etc…

4. Get Followed: Establish yourself as an authority in your niche and the results can be astounding. Employers are on Twitter too, so popularity can help you for sure.