Online recruitment firm Monster India has launched a networking application, BeKnown, on Facebook, designed to allow Facebook users to establish a separate professional network on the world’s most popular social platform. With BeKnown, users can identify and connect with friends and professional contacts from a host of sources, thus enhancing their career prospects.
Joining BeKnown is fairly simple — all one needs is a Facebook account. BeKnown users can directly import their Monster profile at the click of a button. Companies can import their BeKnown profile from their Monster account so that their Monster job postings are distributed to BeKnown. With BeKnown one can easily keep one’s personal and professional connections separate, yet conveniently accessible, on a single destination. The entire BeKnown profile is governed by easily accessible privacy settings that allow users to control what information is shared with whom.
“We have invested considerable time, efforts and resources to ensure we deliver a user-friendly and cost-effective product for both job seekers and users,” says Sanjay Modi, managing director, Monster.com (India/Middle East/Southeast Asia). Talking about privacy issues and data security, Modi asserts that it is taken very seriously at Monster. “First, we try to limit our collection of data to what’s relevant for the intended purpose. Second, we are open and transparent about our privacy practices, and third, we give users control over the sharing of their data with others,” he adds.
The India-specific app was launched in early October. “We have received a phenomenal response in India with 10,000-plus installs in seven days of the launch. Our strategy is to take the app to where our consumers are. Our promotion and marketing plans are designed around the digital landscape and are cross tabbed to our audience preferences. We have aggressively started promoting the app online across horizontals and verticals,” says Modi.
Why Facebook? Facebook’s reach extends beyond that of any other social networking medium, making it the most relevant medium for Monster to launch BeKnown. Today, more than 750 million people globally live their lives through Facebook, while 97 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies turn to Monster to find a suitable talent, according to reports.
In India alone, there are over 35 million internet users who are active on Facebook; making it the largest online networking platform in the country.
Monster enjoys a first mover advantage on Facebook with BeKnown, believes Modi. Going forward, Monster hopes to develop a BeKnown app for mobile phones.