LinkedIn is the leading social networking site dedicated to business relationships. After nearly a decade of existence, LinkedIn has built a user base of more than 100 million worldwide. Each user has the ability to make connections with friends, acquaintances, and business associates, and, consequently, obtain business and networking opportunities. With that type of success, it's no surprise that competitors would arise.

One such competitor, BranchOut, has leveraged the overwhelming popularity of Facebook to become an app used by hundreds of thousands of people in just a year's time. It boasts 3 million job listings and 20,000 internships and keeps the personal side of Facebook hidden in the background so that professional and personal can remain separate. Given that, people who are on Facebook and prefer not to join another website have gravitated toward BranchOut, giving it a nice start at competing with the more seasoned LinkedIn.

As a takeaway, small businesses in and around Lexington, KY also stand to benefit from both platforms. Though the numbers applicable to the local level are somewhat smaller, they still represent of a significant number of the professional population in Lexington. If your company has a job to advertise, an internship to fill or is merely is interested in networking with other professionals within Lexington, both LinkedIn and BranchOut will assist in those goals, all while elevating your company's profile amongst the tech savvy and skilled population.