Fogeys Flock to Facebook

Professionals pushing 40 and older are joining the college crowd on the social hub.

Today, Facebook's main professional value is "building social capital" among business contacts, says co-founder and vice-president of product engineering, Dustin Moskovitz. He's referring to the informal banter, such as through status updates and games with industry friends on the site, that can grease the wheels for interaction when work needs to get done.

And...

What's more, Facebook's world of pokes, spanks, and party photos can't hold a candle to LinkedIn's more professional milieu for executives who want to make connections, says Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn's co-founder, chairman, and president. "Many of the bloggers don't really understand the use case for LinkedIn," he says.

Still...

Hoffman admits that people are "piling on and taking a look around" Facebook. "If you're going to recruit college students, heck, I'd go to Facebook," he says. Given the flock of older professionals joining the Facebook crowd, before long it won't just be headhunters who have business to do there.