LinkedIn brands itself and is widely recognised as the professional social network and, therefore, the one that is most influential for your career. However, Twitter is hot on LinkedIn’s heels in chasing the professional market and is quickly earning the respectability that it previously lacked as a valuable career site.

There have been a few attempts by social media networks to attract professionals to their sites. Facebook attempted a professional-focused app that you are unlikely to have heard of and Google+ just never seemed to fully take off and get active returning members. Twitter, however, seems to be quickly earning respectability in the professional world. More and more professionals are starting to use Twitter as a tool to progress and benefit their careers.

So which social media site can offer professionals the most? Twitter or LinkedIn?

What Twitter has to offer

Twitter is a very varied platform with over 302 million active users. It was not created as a career-orientated site, but many business professionals now use the platform to raise their profile and to network with industry influencers. Here’s what Twitter has to offer as a career site:

• In comparison to LinkedIn, Twitter has a huge number of active users. 60% of LinkedIn users log in less than once a day. This gives Twitter users a much larger and more engaged audience to work with every day.
• The nature of Twitter encourages regular tweeting. You can tweet numerous times a day without seeming annoying to your followers. LinkedIn updates, on the other hand, are much more scarce so you have to be more careful not to overdo it.
• You can show some personality in your tweets and whoever views your Twitter profile will be able to see this. With LinkedIn, however, updates can not be viewed by those visiting your profile which places more focus on skills and experience as opposed to your personality.
• You can easily find and “follow” people of interest to you on Twitter. The good news is it is not unusual or perceived as weird when unknown people follow you. A connection request on LinkedIn, however, tends to come with a bit more expectation.

What LinkedIn has to offer

LinkedIn is purpose-built for professional networking and currently has over 175 million users across more than 200 countries worldwide. Here’s where LinkedIn trumps Twitter as the best career site:

• LinkedIn is the go-to site for recruiters and hiring managers looking for high-calibre candidates with great experience. If you are looking for or are open to new opportunities then LinkedIn is the best place to be visible.
• Those who are serious about their careers and are big players in their industries should definitely be present on LinkedIn by now. LinkedIn helps professionals to build a solid network of business connections and to maintain long-lasting working relationships.
• You never know when a new, exciting career opportunity could pop up, even if you are not necessarily looking. LinkedIn matches advertised jobs with the experience listed on your profile and makes suggestions weekly.
• LinkedIn hosts a number of groups for all sorts of industries that members can join. This is a great way for you to keep up-to-date with trends and to continue to develop your industry expertise. You can also get involved with group discussions and interact with others in your industry.

Where you think that Twitter or LinkedIn will be the best career site for you, the good news is you do not have to choose between the two. Both can help you to further your career, develop professionally and become more visible online.