18 Compelling Reasons to Spend Less Time on Facebook and More Time on LinkedIn

If you’re concerned with furthering your career (and you should be), it’s time to switch over to a more professional network. We’ve shared 18 great reasons why you need to be spending your time on LinkedIn much more than Facebook, and we hope they motivate you to make a change for the better.

LinkedIn is professional at its core

LinkedIn was created to connect professionals in online networking; Facebook was not. Although both services have evolved to include elements of each other, they do still remain true to their original purpose, and LinkedIn excels at presenting a professional front.

LinkedIn is a great place to gain expert status

Although experts are increasingly flocking to Facebook, it’s still hard for some people to take the site seriously. On LinkedIn, the setting is much more open to gaining expert status and credibility. Forums, question and answer sections, and groups make it simpler to connect and share your knowledge in a credible way.

LinkedIn represents a more targeted audience

Facebook is on track to hit the 1 billion-user mark this year, a figure that basically obliterates LinkedIn’s comparatively small 135 million plus users. One might think that more users means more exposure, and that would be correct, but on Facebook, you can’t be sure that the millions of users are actually online to hear about your professional life. On LinkedIn, you can expect to reach a more targeted audience that is connected to you, interested in your work, and willing to listen to what you have to say.

You’re more likely to get a recommendation on LinkedIn

A recommendation on either LinkedIn or Facebook is a great way to put your best foot forward, but you’re simply more likely to land one on LinkedIn. Recent stats show that 36% of LinkedIn users make a recommendation, compared to 27% of Facebook users. LinkedIn also has a 57% interested recommendation response, compared with 42% on Facebook.

LinkedIn users log in with a sense of purpose

While on Facebook, you may be surfing to find out about the latest cat video or your friend’s wedding photos, but LinkedIn tends to lead to a more task-driven visit. Users log in to check out job and collaboration opportunities, people to hire, and relevant industry news.

LinkedIn is a great place to showcase your unpaid work

Even if you haven’t been hired for a job in your life, chances are you’ve volunteered or done an internship before graduation. LinkedIn is specifically designed to help you showcase this experience.

LinkedIn is an online resume

LinkedIn is a great place to collect references, share your work experience, professional samples, and more. Your Facebook Timeline is much more like a digital scrapbook of personal experiences.

LinkedIn searching is more robust

While you can search for people and terms on Facebook, LinkedIn really shines in this category. You can search for companies, find people to connect with, get news, and more on LinkedIn. Your profile is also highly searchable, and represents a great tool for allowing recruiters to find you.

You can actually turn your LinkedIn profile into a resume

Although LinkedIn functions as an online resume, it’s also a time saver when it comes to creating one that you can print and hand out. Use this feature to stop neglecting your paper resume and have something to hand in.

Recruiters are more likely to share applications on LinkedIn

Facebook and LinkedIn are both experiencing growth in applications shared on their sites. But LinkedIn stands out for the number of candidates who actually apply. You can expect recruiters to go where the interest is, which clearly rests with LinkedIn.

Facebook is a major time suck

Facebook is fun, but for most users, it takes up much more time than it should. In a comparison, researchers found that Facebook visits resulted in stays of 405 minutes per visitor, compared with 17 minutes on LinkedIn. It is much wiser to spend 17 focused minutes on LinkedIn than several hours frittering your time away on Facebook.

Groups on LinkedIn are highly effective

Facebook has groups, but not on the level that LinkedIn does. LinkedIn remains an incredible resource for connecting and networking in industry groups on the site.

You’re more likely to get hired on LinkedIn

In a recent comparison of job search markers on Facebook and LinkedIn, LinkedIn beat Facebook handily in every category. The most interesting and revealing, however, was social employee hires, with LinkedIn earning 73% and Facebook at a low 22%.

LinkedIn is a great place for business introductions

One of the best features of LinkedIn is the ability to be introduced to new business contacts through the site, especially through contacts you already know.

LinkedIn users have more money

Out of all the popular social media sites, LinkedIn users have the highest average income of $89K. If you’re looking to earn a good salary, you’ll be in great company on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn activities are more attuned to job promotion

The top activities on LinkedIn are industry networking, keeping in touch, and networking between coworkers.

LinkedIn really shines with relevance

While your friends on Facebook may be sharing music videos that you scroll right past, LinkedIn works hard to bring you content that is the most relevant to you. The site sends emails to users with the most-shared news, groups that belong to your job focus, and contacts you’re likely to be interested in getting to know.

LinkedIn is awesome for research

Facebook is growing in this respect with better Pages, but LinkedIn still wins the battle of employer research. You find out who works there, who used to work there, whether or not you have any connections within the company, and more.