theregoesdave

Facebook has been experiencing loads of growth over the last couple of years, even edging out Myspace in terms of Unique Visitors for the first time this summer. While many people think of the professional networking site LinkedIn as catering to a slightly different niche, there are a number of things that point toward Facebook dominating the professional networking category as well.

One of the most critical differentiators that allows Facebook to play in the professional networking arena is the fact that it’s decidedly more grown-up than its rival Myspace. In professional circles between adults, it’s rare to see people admit to still having a Myspace account, let alone see people exchange Myspace screen names. Facebook does a good job of walking the line between business and personal to the point where users can feel comfortable connecting with colleagues on Facebook.

However, the most important feature that Facebook offers in terms of contact information is actual telephone numbers. Even if you can sync my entire LinkedIn contact list with Outlook, it does you very little good if the records don’t include a telephone number. In fact, this led me to delete the Outlook toolbar which only served to create tons of useless records in my contact list.

Facebook takes this feature one step further in their iPhone application’s Contacts feature. This view shows user profiles that include an email address and telephone number. You can even just tap on the telephone number inside the application to call the person directly. In fact, this process is even easier than managing my contact list because my friends update their own information in Facebook!

Here’s a quick screenshot of the application, which I highly recommend for Facebook users with an iPhone.

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