Many on the call were thinking, “This sounds an awful lot like another Facebook app, Branchout.” (I know I was thinking it!) In fact, I’ve written about Branchout, which Mashable notes has more than 800,000 users (compared to LinkedIn, with more than 100 million members). Both Branchout and BeKnown try to leverage Facebook’s more than 750 million (!) members and hope to provide a go-to, “professional” space within Facebook. Since statistics show so many more people use and spend time on (in) Facebook, I’ve been advising job seekers to clean up their Facebook profiles for job-hunting purposes for some time now. I devoted an entire chapter to Facebook in Social Networking for Career Success, because I believe it’s important to “go where the people are” when it comes to networking online, and the people are on Facebook!

Having a professional profile on Facebook helps allow job seekers to connect with companies hosting Facebook pages and helps make it easier to connect with recruiters on Facebook.

While a professional online profile is a good idea, Monster makes a point to note its app allows Facebook users to:

·         Easily invite contacts from other social networks to expand their BeKnown network beyond their existing Facebook friends

·         Keep social activity with friends and family separate from work-related activity with professional contacts

·         See who among their professional contacts on BeKnown is connected to a company or job opportunity of interest

·         Connect professional networking to Monster’s job search and browse tools and import their Monster profile to BeKnown from right within the app

For companies, Monster explains that BeKnown:

·         Opens up a vast source of potential global talent on Facebook – Facebook’s estimated 750 million members span ages, income levels and ethnic groups

·         Creates new recruitment-focused visibility opportunities and extends job posting reach in a high engagement environment

·         Increases engagement opportunities with so-called passive job seekers, as BeKnown users follow company job and network activity

·         Activates recruiter and employee networks as referral sources

What’s especially unique about BeKnown compared to other apps?

Monster explains it will include a “Social Referral Program (SRP), which encourages BeKnown users to pass along specific jobs through their BeKnown network.  The Social Referral Program amplifies a company’s employee referral network and extends reach to passive candidates.  Currently in beta, the referral program will be rolled out to select Monster customers.”

I had a chance to ask a few questions I thought would be important for readers to know.

My first question: “Is this an application marketed for job seekers, since it’s from a company best known for its job board?”

The answer was “No, it’s for anyone who wants to build a network.” In particular, it aims to offer a tool to people who have not already grown their LinkedIn network, for example.

My second question related to the jobs that will be posted on the site. I was concerned about verifying the companies and avoiding scam artists from moving in to collect information from unsuspecting job seekers. I understand there will be some verification. (We’ll see how this all plays out.)

I started using BeKnown, and, so far, I like it! Stay tuned for my first impressions. In the meantime, if you’d like to try it out:

For more information, follow these links to join BeKnown (http://www.beknown.com/landing) and to learn more about how it works (http://www.beknown.com/landing/howitworks). And, feel free to connect with me there. I’m planning to have an “open” network on BeKnown.

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