There are many, many social networks available online: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, niche networks, and many more. Are some better than others? Do they have different purposes? Which ones are worth your time? Watch the video to see what an expert in the job search thinks about the different social networks, and which one is critical for you to be in:

These days everyone is all a twitter about Twitter, or at least so it seems sometimes. LinkedIn is the steady-as-you-go business tool that doesn’t seem to be flashy and isn’t too concerned about attention. LinkedIn has been built on competency. Twitter has been more “faddish” in its appeal.

The question at hand is:  which is better for the job search?

My short answer is:  LinkedIn is better, and the largest portion of your time on social media should definitely be spent there.

However, this isn’t quite fair to Twitter because this sends a message suggesting an inherent inferiority, which isn’t precisely the case. If you have a well-developed Twitter following, Twitter offers tremendously rapid capacity to reach a tremendously wide audience. Instantaneous communication can be pretty attractive when the communication is an opportunity, or when you want to reach hiring managers quickly.  With Twitter, you can follow recruiters, hiring managers, and others who could be helpful to your career.  When they tweet about job leads, you’ll be right there.

But when I say LinkedIn is better, it’s because most job searches eventually require digging into skills, experience, cultural background, work ethic, education, and other points.   Because of LinkedIn’s well-developed professional profile area, contact management capacity, professional groups, and tools keeping members tuned to their network members’ career changes, needs, plans, and development, it provides a great advantage that more often can approach the demands of a hiring decision.  (Having your own well-developed LinkedIn profile can be invaluable here.)  Because of this demand, Twitter will not normally carry the job search across the finish line, but particularly for more junior roles, Twitter can be a tremendous lead-generating tool.

In the end, Twitter and LinkedIn can both have a place in your job search, but if your time is limited, choose LinkedIn.

Twitter is one of those social media sites that might surprise you. On the surface, it seems frivolous—do you really need to read all those Tweets about the smallest daily details of life? But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll realize just how powerful Twitter can be for your career, if you learn to use it.

Twitter can be great for tweeting about what you’re doing, but even better for following what others are doing—if you’re following the right people. Following the ones who can be the most useful and relevant to your career success right now is a tremendous opportunity you should not let slip by. Ultimately, Twitter is about communicating and connecting. The more you do, the more you’ll learn things that will be useful to you in your career.

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If you want to build your personal brand, establish an online presence, and be in the right place at the right time for your job search, then you have to utilize social media. The big 3 social media sites are LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. While LinkedIn is focused more fully on business, and Facebook leans toward the social, Twitter lands somewhere in the middle. Nearly 75 million people visited Twitter in January 2010.

Twitter relies on “tweets,” which are posts of 140 characters or less. They’re short, but frequent. Life moves fast on Twitter. But then, the world moves fast and this is a way to keep up. And yes, while some tweets are huge time-wasters (some of us don’t want to know what someone else had for breakfast), there’s quite a bit of useful information you can gain from following the right people. It’s both a way to research and a way to network.

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Online social media is a fantastic tool for job hunting. The Big 3 (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter) each have their own unique style that you can

what will employers find when they search your name online?

utilize in different ways for your job search. But while you’re working these sites to land the perfect job, employers and recruiters are looking for you, too. And if you get their attention in the early stages of the job interview process, they’re going to be actively searching for more details about you. According to one survey, 70% of hiring managers and recruiters have rejected an applicant based on what they found online. Have you Googled your name lately to see what they’ll find out about you?

You can manage your online identity to control your reputation and your image in the job market in these 5 ways:

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When searching for candidates, recruiters often conduct internet searches…through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and sometimes, just a basic Google.

If you’d like a chance to be contacted, here’s a piece of critical advice:

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Jason from The Talent Buzz posted this January 11.  I love Twitter, and it’s an honor to be included with the other great recruiters on this list.  Thanks, Jason!

It’s hard to believe it has been almost 2 years since my first tweet.  Since then I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people inside and outside of my industry and profession, and publish a few blog posts on the topic.  A few examples include:

• Using Twitter to Recruit, Find a Job, or Network
• Using Twitter to Network and Find a Job
• Recruiting, Social Media, and Friends. Twitter Rocks!

Looking back the growth of twitter has been astounding.  In April of 2009, there were 1.5 billion tweets.  9 months later (as I write this) there are 7.6 billion tweets and counting.

Last February (2009) there were 900 profiles with the word “recruiter”.  Fast forward 2 months to April and it grew to 3,900.  Today there are 10,372!  There are also over 15,000 social media “experts” in case you hadn’t heard…

So with over 10,000 people with the word recruiter in their profile, who should you follow?

I would start with the 25 most influential recruiters on twitter, according to wefollow.  They include:

1. Shally Steckerl – @shally
2. Irina Shamaeva – @braingain
3. Glen Cathey – @BooleanBlackBlt
4. AIRS – @AIRSTraining
5. Steven Rothberg – @StevenRothberg
6. Jennifer McClure – @CincyRecruiter
7. Jerry Albright – @Jerry_Albright
8. Geoff Peterson – @GeoffPeterson
9. Stephanie Lloyd – @StephanieALloyd
10. Paul DeBettignies – @MNHeadhunter
11. Craig Fisher – @Fishdogs
12. Michael Long – @theredrecruiter
13. Ryan Leary – @ryanleary
14. Jim Durbin – @smheadhunter
15. Shannon Myers – @slcmyers
16. Sarah Peacey – @RecruitingTruth
17. Nikki G – @Recruitnik
18. Todd Kmiec – @toddkmiec
19. Dawn Mular – @DMular
20. Jeff Lipschultz – @JLipschultz
21. Rick Deare – @RickDeare
22. Peggy McKee – @salesrecruiter
23. Bruce – @RecruiterBruce
24. David Graziano – @DavidGraziano
25. Darryl Dioso – @DarrylRMSG

Sure, one could argue the other 9,000 recruiters haven’t registered their profile on wefollow (that’s their fault) or have chosen a different tag than recruiter.  Either way, you’ll be in great company with these 25 tweeps.

Check out Jason’s great Twitter Tips on the Talent Buzz!