Monster.com on Monday issued its response to LinkedIn: BeKnown, a jobs network that resides within Facebook as an app.
According to Darko Dejanovic, the chief information officer and head of product for Monster, over 700 million Facebook users could tap into the network. (Facebook officially says it has over 500 million users.) Users can download BeKnown at the Facebook apps site in one of 19 different languages.
Monster, of course, is years behind LinkedIn, which started cultivating its network of people, their careers, employers, and other work-related social information in 2003 as a beta site. In May, launched a $9 billion public offering, launching at a share price of $45. On Friday, it closed at just under $70.
For Facebook users, the most important aspect is probably the ability to create a network of professional contacts, which can be kept separate from the connections among friends and family which make up most Facebook social networks. Users will also be able to hunt for jobs and to see who in their professional network is connected to a job or a job opportunity, Monster said. BeKnown users can either create their own profile, or import a previous profile that they have on file with Monster.com.
Users can also endorse other users, either with a general "thumbs up" or a more specific written endorsement, which the endorsee must approve before it can be added to his or her profile.
But BeKnown will also add badges, which will let users compete amongst their contacts for badges based on work history, education, size of a user's network, and more.
"BeKnown is another extension of our commitment to meet the evolving needs of job seekers and employers by adding professional networking to their online recruitment, job search, and career management toolkit," said Sal Iannuzzi, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Monster Worldwide, in a