“Facebook for Work” all set to take on LinkedIn

The internet is bubbling with energy as it always does when there is news from Mark Zuckerberg, and its not fashion tips. It is not often that the internet giants will miss out on a potential market, the land of social media marketing for businesses is no exception. It’s becoming increasingly important for companies to get found through the most popular channels the internet has to offer. Facebook is about to put their billion monthly users to use and go directly up against LinkedIn, with ‘Facebook for Work.

Coinciding with this attack from the juggernaut of Facebook is the ominous signs of $19m in sales of stocks by the LinkedIn CEO in November. Is it a time to abandon the LinkedIn ship?

“We are in the process of asking ourselves what it would take…to create economic opportunity for the 3 billion people in the global workforce,” The LinkedIn Chief Executive Jeff Weiner.

LinkedIn is actually one of the fastest growing social media platforms. More than two users sign up to LinkedIn every second. As of February 2014 Dan Roth the executive director of LinkedIn announced that any member can create and publish extended content, meaning LinkedIn became the place to showcase in depth analysis across many subjects. This drove up both engagement and time users spend on the site. Meaning bloggers and publishers can share on LinkedIn for free, gaining the power of content accessible to over 300 million users. LinkedIn is the business social media, it doesn’t show the World you doing a beer bong at the office Christmas party, but it might show you shaking hands with the CEO at the recent training excercise. There are now over a billion LinkedIn endorsements, providing pre verified resumes for employees looking for work.

‘If You’re Not on LinkedIn – You Don’t Exist’, Gal Borenstein.

With ‘Facebook for work’ however, it might be LinkedIn that won’t exist. The Facebook service too will look to provide a business alternative to the normal personal Facebook service. So far Facebook’s business interaction has remained basic, mostly for publicity purposes. ‘Facebook for Work’ could potentially become another workforce map, like LinkedIn, encouraging businesses to keep a profile and post job vacancies and so help in the search for employees with the right verified skills. Undoubtedly Facebook faces great challenges, apart from some companies having a Facebook ban, to convince the large companies to have trust in the privacy settings when some businesses need protected content. Obviously no one knows how successful the service will be when it rolls out but it will certainly be one to watch for any companies concerned with their internet presence.