How BeKnown Fits Into The New World of Work

Now that the dust has settled a little bit with the launch of BeKnown behind us, I wanted to take a step back to provide even more context for why we introduced our own professional networking app on Facebook, and perhaps more importantly, to discuss our intent for BeKnown’s growing user network.

I don’t think anyone would refute the importance of developing a strong professional identity where you can showcase your skills and your work experience, and where you can interact with both current and previous colleagues and professional connections.

It’s what we do naturally as humans – share, connect, engage – something that has only been further facilitated by the Internet. BeKnown is the latest incarnation of this social revolution, and as it continues to evolve, I think it’s important to look not only at where we’re going as an industry, but where social media has been during its brief, but explosive, era.

When Monster looked at the professional networking market, we were able to identify a glaring gap that we felt uniquely positioned to address: a way to connect and engage on one platform, bridging one’s personal and professional networks on the front end without compromising the distinct separation of work and life that users have created on the back end.

Of course, any social platform’s value lies entirely in who’s using it; to that end, we selected Facebook, a platform that’s achieved a level of ubiquity in the lives of everyone from your grandmother to your CEO.  This broad user adoption was key to creating a destination where users can connect not only socially, but professionally – but separately.

We also understand that there’s a line in the sand, and that keeping business and personal identities separate and distinct is not only key to BeKnown’s value, but also a particularly sensitive concern of both job seekers and the employers looking to hire them.  That’s why we built BeKnown the way we did – with entirely separate professional profiles (including the ability to use a distinct, professional profile picture), and details like skills and company connections not offered on Facebook’s personal profiles.

BeKnown is more than a job search or recruiting tool, however – it’s designed for career management and professional networking. It’s also designed for keeping a pulse on companies and industries in a more intuitive and, well, more fun way, by adding features that make professional skills and milestones stand out through endorsements and badges.

With that background, there are a few things that we’ve been hearing from our community; we understand that you can’t succeed in social without listening to the conversation.

That’s why I’d like to provide some additional clarity (and hopefully, peace of mind) about some of the discussions we’ve seen popping up around BeKnown.

3 Facts That Need to BeKnown

We’ve carefully constructed BeKnown to acknowledge, and honor what our users want: a professional online presence that’s distinct and separate from their personal digital footprint.  Here are some facts about BeKnown you should know:

• BeKnown doesn’t pull or collect social activities, photos or videos from your Facebook profile.
• While it’s expected that some overlap between Facebook friends and BeKnown connections will likely occur, BeKnown users have complete control to determine with whom, and how much, that overlap exists.
• Users have complete control over privacy and sharing rights into BeKnown.  BeKnown members can showcase as much or as little of their activity as they feel appropriate completely at their discretion.

However, there are a few instances where we do allow crossover/sharing between Facebook and Beknown; these features were all carefully designed and considered:

• When you join BeKnown, it’s acknowledged on your Facebook wall.  This was done intentionally to allow users to notify their existing Facebook network that the user has joined a new professional network.  As such, it’s visible only to connections that the user has already established within the Facebook environment, and is not designed to ‘red flag’ you as looking for a new job.Because that’s not what BeKnown is about – nor is it what professional networks before us are about.  BeKnown is a professional network where career-minded professionals can connect and engage, share connections and help one another in their careers. Looking for a job is not the only goal of professional networking and never has been – it’s also about helping others.  But, of course, BeKnown is also a great way to uncover talent (for employers) or a new career opportunity (for users).

• As you earn badges, you’re earning something to be celebrated and shared. BeKnown badges showcase loyalty and commitment to your current employer.

• As you receive positive endorsements based on your skills or work experience – this is something you can also choose to share with your BeKnown network and/or your Facebook network, but is also in your control not to share, if you’d prefer.

As you’ll see, BeKnown is a professional network for career-minded pros that want to freely connect and engage online without cluttering up their personal networks. And given our heritage here at Monster, we wanted BeKnown to be not only a professional networking outlet, but also a network for those that are looking for their next career move.

By providing a venue that offers both in a way that’s easy to access, manageable, and distinct, we hope to create a destination for seekers and employers to connect about companies, jobs, skills and redefine – and reshape – the way we think about the new world of work.

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About the Author

Tom Chevalier is a Global Product Manager at Monster and product lead for BeKnown™ – the professional networking app on Facebook. He also contributes to the evolution of Monster’s Career Ad Network and TargetMail products. Prior to joining Monster, Tom was co-founder of PeopleAhead, an early entrant in the professional networking and talent matching industries. Tom earned his MBA at the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, graduating with magna cum laude distinction and is an undergrad alum from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.