There is a passionate group of over 10,000 recruiters, and many of them are actively posting content, interacting with one another, and generally enriching the network. One of the most impressive networks I’ve seen is for recruiters, called. Go to a Ning network, look for a network that interests you (try one based on your profession (HR, accounting, etc.) or industry (transportation, healthcare, IT, etc.), and see how active the network is. We’ll talk about some of those later in this article. I suggest you participate in networks that have business purposes, of course, and some for special interest, but rarely in the silly-fun.

Relatively few networks are dedicated to business purposes, while many are dedicated to special interest groups (go to and search on any interest), and the silly-fun groups seem to get the most press, and seem to be filled with teenagers. Let me give three broad categories for social networks: business, special interest, and silly-fun. I want to fish in a big pond with lots of fish, not a small pond with just a handful of fish! In a very small network my choices and chances are limited, and there’s a good chance I already know most of the people there. When you have other networks where there are millions of people, I’ll have a chance of finding people I want to meet, or being found by those same people. Criteriaīefore I choose to join a network, I consider the following things:Īre there a lot of signups (or, users)? I don’t want to be one of the first 100 people on the network.

So just what networks should I join? I’ll share my criteria, and then make specific comments on a few networks in general.

Linkedin social networking sites