Facebook's not the only social network: Don't overlook LinkedIn

Last week there were reports that Google were working on a Facebook alternative, which may or may not amount to something, but for me the big question is what will it take to shift 500million people's digital lives somewhere else??  It's an interesting question and one that Clay Shirky touched upon at the end of his cognitive surplus lecture last week, and despite some of the great social scientists of London being in the room, one that none of us are sure of the answer to.

That said in a world of distributed identity, where we increasingly have a digital presence, and possibly different digital profiles or identities in different spaces for different purposes, LinkedIn shouldn't be overlooked.  Aside from the obvious professional connections library that it represents, LinkedIn have been beavering away adding features and groups and to those that are still banned from accessing Facebook at work, it represents a very credible social interaction space, for professional and personal interests these days.  Groups, debates, sharing ideas, organising events, it's all there too.

I liked this infographic I found this morning which prompted the post. (Click to see it on a larger scale)