LinkedIn Finds Another Way to Link Job Seekers and Recruiters

For a while now, LinkedIn has been the social media site offering, by far, the broadest utility for job seekers and the recruiters seeking them. From profiles featuring their subjects' entire work history in narrative form, to a powerful search function capable of drilling through these with uncommon accuracy, as well as the ability to connect and share information directly with anyone on the site, LinkedIn has fairly earned this reputation. And yesterday, the site's utility only grew: LinkedIn users may now track companies that maintain profiles on this site.

LinkedIn's new functionality seems like a rendition on Twitter's central feature, the ability to follow others, or Facebook users' ability to become fans (now to "like") a brand or organization, as noted by MediaPost's April 29th article covering the development. Ultimately, the ability to track companies on LinkedIn provides the foundation for a kaleidescope of possibilities, including the means by which competitors may gain business intelligence on each other, but the most immediate benefit is to recruiters. Again, as reported by MediaPost, "Through the new 'Follow Company' service, users can sign up to find out things like new job openings or new hires or promotions and other company developments. It can also serve as a business intelligence tool for competing companies."

Is this a watershed moment in the evolution of social media? No, not really, but it is undeniable evidence that the following and liking functionalities of other social media websites are not only popular, but also transferable concepts, applicable across the Web in ways that have the potential of enhancing the process wherever they take root.