Business Week looks at how grown ups utilize social networks online.
Corporations and smaller businesses haven’t embraced online business networks with nearly the same abandon as teens and college students who have flocked to social sites. Yet companies are steadily overcoming reservations and using the sites and related technology to craft potentially powerful business tools.
Recruiters at Microsoft and Starbucks, for instance, troll online networks such as LinkedIn for potential job candidates. The Holy Grail in recruiting is finding so-called passive candidates, people who are happy and productive working for other companies. LinkedIn, with its 6.7 million members, is a virtual Rolodex of these types.