MySpace continues to own the social networking category with nearly 80% market share of visits to the top 20 sites and 180 million profiles.

Facebook is gaining ground, only after opening the doors to the general public last September, up 106%…

and Bebo is running a distant, almost non-existent, 3rd.

Using this Hitwise intelligence, combined with the news of Myspace working with authorities to rid it’s ranks of predators, the question begs to be asked AGAIN. When will hiring companies feel comfortable in developing professional profile pages and building a social brand?

Myspace and Facebook will provide a unique opportunity for companies to reach talent and provide relevant corporate information in a new social scheme, whether blogs, videos, or just plain old fashioned text.

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Apparently I’ve been missing something. A friend sent me an article yesterday about IBM opening up some of their Second Life properties, including islands, to all Second Life citizens. Okay, I asked the same question.

What is Second Life?

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 1,982,808 people from around the globe, and over US$600,000 has been spent in the last 24 hours. The currency in SL is called LindeX, which is initially gained by exchange of your US$ through your favorite credit card. You can create your own Second You called an Avatar, then buy and sell real estate, clothes, and many other products and services in the realm of Second Life.

IBM is exploring the possibilities of using Second Life for Customer Service says IBM spokesman Matthew McMahon “Instead of me trying to explain in a phone call how to unscrew your hard drive, someone in a more immersive 3D world could actually show you,”

NBC is also leveraging Second Life for their new iVillage property and tonight they’re hosting the very first Second Life “Girls Night Out” at the iVillage Loft on Sheep Island, picture below.

How about virtual recruiting? Is anyone leveraging this new virtual reality for recruitment? Insider information says a very prominent Recruitment Ad Agency will be holding virtual job fairs on their very own SL Island sometime in 2007.

And for those who don’t think this is real business check out this article about the first Second Life millionaire.

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After reading through a product review this morning I felt the need to post about Jason Alba’s “Candidate Empowerment” tool.

“Anybody who’s done it knows that looking for a job is a full-time job in itself. So how can you better manage all the information the process generates? One start-up, JibberJobber, is building a relationship management service for job seekers.” - Rafe Needleman WebWare

First, I wanted to do the appropriate research and read what other bloggers were saying about Jason’s vision and JibberJobber. I found myself reading through a JibberJobber post, from early October, by Dave Mendoza, which is incredibly thorough and articulate, plus I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Thanks Dave!

After reading Dave’s post (hint, hint) I had a few additions, which lean more toward the corporate side of the house helping their job seekers.

As companies focus more on the candidate experience, with their corporate career site, they should also think about helping candidates manage their job search by offering JibberJobber as a FREE tool, especially the rejected candidates. Why? Providing JibberJobber, to these candidates promotes goodwill, the start of a long-term relationship with a candidate you may need down the road, and it’s just good business, especially if the candidate is, or could be, a customer. Moreover, if your company is going through outplacement, this is an easy MUST!

For Job boards and job search verticals the opportunity to provide a better candidate empowerment tool, to their job seeking masses, through a partnership with JibberJobber is a no-brainer, plus I understand Jason has a pretty handsome referral program as well.

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There’s a newcomer to the social networking craze, Blue Chip Expert. BCE is looking to connect contractors, in a MySpace-like environment, moreover step up the hiring process by offering up BIG CASH rewards, ala H3.

Here’s the BCE 4-Step process, with my commentary of course.

The Invitation - Step 1
Walter, a Blue Chip Expert member, invites his friend Susan to register on the site and set up a profile outlining her credentials. Susan, in turn, invites her friend Patricia.

This is nothing new, although have you checked out the Blue Chip Expert site? Did Walter have to go through a blood test and tox screen to register himself? Drat, where did I put that invitation code?

The Search - Step 2
The CTO at Company XYZ searches Blue Chip for a project manager with Six Sigma training. He sorts potential hires by ranking the universities they attended and their former employers.

“When employers search for prospects, Blue Chip’s algorithms offer a menu of rankings according to the pedigree of, say, former employers or universities (GE (Charts) outranks Tyco (Charts), for example, and Stanford is better than the University of Colorado).” - Business 2.0

Okay, how do I list this search and algorithm for my OFCCP audit? Gotta love those ranking examples, Ouch!

The Hire - Step 3
The CTO picks Patricia and hires her for an eight month gig. Company XYZ pays $250,000 to Blue Chip, which pays Patricia $200,000.

This is the part where smart recruiters start inviting everyone they ever knew into Blue Chip Expert, just in case someone finds them and hires them. Get ready for a high dose of no-doze and Mountain Dew, it’s time to mass email the WORLD!

The Payback - Step 4
Blue Chip gives $4,000 to Susan, the member who referred Patricia, and $2,000 to Walter, the member who referred Susan, and nets $44,000 in profit.

Now that’s a nice little chunk of change for Blue Chip Expert using MY network..??

In the end, I have to give props to any company looking to use technology for more than the standard job postings and searching of resumes. INNOVATION HOOOO!

Don’t get me wrong posting and search are here to stay, especially on the niche level, but in the age of retina scans and mapping the human genome, we’re still posting jobs? How about no Scott..

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