LinkedIn vs. Facebook vs. Pinterest

I picked these three social media outlets because they were created for such different networking purposes, but at the end of the day, they were all created for networking.

LinkedIn has more of a business focus.  A user can define their personal profile with their education, career positions, location, special honors, etc.  The capability to search for friends, or connections, using names, groups, schools, by jobs, and even by their e-mail contacts.  One can e-mail another connection or person of interest.  A person has the ability search for jobs, look for people to fill positions, and even find a company to meet a need - all within a trusted network because one can find these people through others they know.

Facebook is a social network that is not really focused on any one point, other than connecting people.  As with LinkedIn, one can set up their profile with specifics and can run a search for friends in the same manner.  As with LinkedIn, you can see friends that are friends with your friends, so a person can see an additional network of people who they may know.  Facebook also has the capability of Instant Messaging, commenting on posts, videos, and pictures, and sharing most information found on the Internet.  Users have the added availability to blog and create events to invite their friends to.

Pinterest is a social network that is focused on interests.  A user can do a search for Do It Yourself (DIY) ideas on how to paint a child's room and get a wealth of pictures and advise.  If the user particularly likes someone else's ideas, they can follow them.  The user can also "Pin" all of the ideas they like to their own board and come back to that at a later time.  The user's friends can see what they have pinned and review that material as well.