With its addition of Graph Search, Facebook has taken another step in bridging the gap between social and professional networking. Other social media sites like Tumblr are doing the same, and some, like Twitter, have already been established tools for communicating within particular fields and industries. This is a big move for the world of social networking—as many know, they were mostly seen as productivity sinks for quite some time, barring the already professionally-geared LinkedIn. So if you’ve been searching for a job for some time and wonder what your strategies or professional networking tactics are lacking, it may be time to refresh your game with some e-networking.

Ultimately, being as (professionally) active as possible on the internet will produce positive results when recruiters and hiring managers research you—which, rest assured, they will. As social networking platforms become more and more prominent in our daily culture, they consistently rank top in Google searches, and are therefore easy and effective tools for crafting your online presence to market yourself, network, and showcase yourself as an industry expert. Likewise, they’re the first thing many employers see when they research you in consideration for a position.

We’ve posted many a topic on social media for those already working within the platforms, but for those who may just be getting started on the first leg of their journey into marketing themselves online, things may not be so clear. To help give you a sense of which platform would be best for you and your industry, and how to harness the various tools each offers, we’ve compiled a series of posts on three of the top social media platforms used by jobseekers and industry experts alike. Though LinkedIn is a common tool used by professionals in every industry, we will be focusing on the ones you may be less likely to notice as useful professional tools: Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr/Blogs.

Stay tuned for our first post, regarding Facebook, next week!