Twitter vs LinkedIn, professionally speaking

yzT

This is something that I've been wondering for the past days... If you only could be active on one of them, which one would it be? From the point of view of career grow. On LinkedIn, by active I mean that you contribute to groups and share updates, not just filling the profile and that's all. On Twitter, that you tweet pretty often.LinkedIn seems to be the obvious choice, however, I see that known experts are more active on Twitter.

Deathmage

Linkedin all the way. It's a e-Resume. I get 6 to 7 job offering a week...

anhtran35

Twitter? I see more guys lose their jobs by posting a stupid picture( ex: Overseas contractors posting map of the base ) or banging a prostitute or talking smack about their company/boss.

OfWolfAndMan

Linkedin. No competition there. I have never seen Twitter as a professional social network. More like a new approach to Facebook posts (Apparently hashtags is the thing cool kids do today. I wish I could be one of em ).

discount81

LinkedIn obviously

wes allen

LinkedIn is, as was posted, a great online resume, but I find the content that is posted to be pretty poor. Twitter, on the other hand, is a great source of information, esp. within in the infosec world. Follow the right people, and you can stay current on news, along with links to usually pretty good content. It might take a while to build a solid list of people to follow, but once you have it, it is much, much better then anything on linkedin.

So, my answer is both - create a good profile on LinkedIn, spend a bit of time every week or two to keep it current, and then spend the majority of your time on twitter.

cyberguypr

I agree with Wes. They both serve a purpose. I use LinkedIn to sell my skill set and expertise to the highest bidder. The LinkedIn Groups are filled with two types of people: guys on the other side of the world asking for step by step instructions on how to do all things IT, or guys re-posting articles without adding any insight or additional value. I use Twitter to keep in touch with key players in the InfoSec arena. Definitely get more out of Twitter on a daily basis.

yzT

finally someone got the point of the question. LinkedIn obviously is better if you look at it as an e-resume, but that wasn't the point of the question. That's why I said (and explained) what's the meaning of be active.I share both wes and cyberguypr's opinions.

colemic

@cyberguypr Twitter is also great for trolling EC-Council.

Deathmage

well as far as news now with Twitter, you can take a selfie now of your dancing Boomkin in 6.1 and post it. How's that for a Professional feed.

ITHokie

For employment opportunities, LinkedIn. It's not even close. I'm not sure how the two can even rightly be compared.

For the best, most up to-date feed of happenings on the security/intel landscape, Twitter is awesome.

Pupil

Twitter is my go to for the latest infosec news and discussions. Groups on LinkedIn are pretty awful.

colemic

ITHokie wrote: »

For employment opportunities, LinkedIn. It's not even close. I'm not sure how the two can even rightly be compared.

For the best, most up to-date feed of happenings on the security/intel landscape, Twitter is awesome.

I would disagree. Go to twitter and search for #InfoSecJobs, these aren't HR drones posting a job that you'll apply for and never hear back from. There are loads of RTs whenever that hashtag comes through my feed. This is real people, posting real jobs, and can be an incredible way to network yourself into a position.

As an even better example, this link was shared on twitter before and during shmoocon: 2015 ShmooCon Hiring - Room362.com

Now for researching those companies, I would go to LinkedIn. G

Plantwiz

anhtran35 wrote: »

Twitter? I see more guys lose their jobs by posting a stupid picture( ex: Overseas contractors posting map of the base ) or banging a prostitute or talking smack about their company/boss.

I was going to comment something like this and you beat me to it...Use Twitter if you want to exile yourself because one day you make a post you did not think before hitting submit!

Twitter may be okay for someone (maybe a tv or radio personality - then again we've seen this become a career killer for a few in the past year or two), but I see no use for it. Linkedin is probably fine, but again, I see limited benefit from it - it always strikes me a tool for those who are chronically dissatisfied with what they do and hoping for someone to find them and whisk them from their terrible situation into something new.

Yes, many on this site use Linkedin, I agree it has more benefit than Twitter (twitter is not a professional's tool), Linked has some merit, I don't see it as a positive tool for folks working for an employer, self-employed people, yes, this is a fine tool.

rsutton

This is like asking, Facebook or LinkedIn?

Plantwiz

Exactly rsutton!

(or myspace ).

ITHokie

colemic wrote: »

I would disagree. Go to twitter and search for #InfoSecJobs, these aren't HR drones posting a job that you'll apply for and never hear back from. There are loads of RTs whenever that hashtag comes through my feed. This is real people, posting real jobs, and can be an incredible way to network yourself into a position.

As an even better example, this link was shared on twitter before and during shmoocon: 2015 ShmooCon Hiring - Room362.com

Now for researching those companies, I would go to LinkedIn. G

That ShmooCon list made the rounds on the SANS Advisory Board distro - thanks for reminding me I need to tuck that away. But even in this scenario, I don't really see how there is any advantage to connecting with them on Twitter vs LnkedIn. That latter is a professional space where they have the ability to see your resume (or something like it) online.

Does Twitter get you interest and job offers without you even reaching out? Does it give you the ability to view past and present employers of folks in your network so you can map out a way to connect with companies/recruiters/PMs through people you know? Can it provide metrics on what interest your page is getting? Can you post professional experience, achievements, degrees and certs, etc?

If so, then I would probably recommend using both so long as folks have a separate handle for employment purposes.