Thanks for posting this, Steve.  I haven’t ventured out… and may not, but I’m interested in what others who are using it have to say.

@stevemcauliffe “Has anyone gone out on a Limb and tried this” <<< Is this a pun? ha.  Yes, I did try it out, but it seems like a job site /system, so Im not sure if its for me. 

This is another new one for me? What is it?

http://www.facebook.com/newpueblo

Same here, I get tons of requests but haven’t accepted any and I’m not interested. Are we missing an opportunity with it?

I see almost no value in it unless you are job searching.  I am in it and have gotten recommendations but I don’t think the BranchOut profiles are very visible. 

My previous job was with a workforce development agency that helped people transition through training into a new career path.  I always investigate everything because of that.  You never know what tool is going to catch on.  I started updating my profile and getting connections.  BranchOut was FB answer to LinkedIn, in fact you could upload your LI profile.  It doesn’t update when you update LI so it was another thing to have to pay attention to on a regular basis.

Another clone is BeKnown, which is Monster’s version of BranchOut.  I just sat through a seminar on what the Chicago Sun-Time group is doing with BeKnown and their jobs boards.

The main logic behind both of these “tools” is the 850million users on Facebook.  Post the jobs and look for a job where the most users are.

IMHO, why try to mess with a system as complex as a networking tool that LI has already done so successfully.

I have over 1400 LI contacts, 66 BranchOut Contacts and under 10 BeKnown contacts.  There is my priority.

Here is an article about BranchOut that just appeared in Inc.Wire. Apparently they are making a serious run at LinkedIn, recently raising another $25 million.

http://wire.inc.com/2012/04/19/linkedin-competitor-raises-25-million/