Facebook for Job Hunts?

My Query...
I found the short video entitled "Social Networking in Plain English" especially interesting, because it described uses for these tools that I, at least, haven't really seen happening in the real world on some platforms. The video explains that sites like Facebook allow the invisible ties between people to become visible, and hence become useful for finding jobs, etc. As stated, this didn't really seem to be a purpose of Facebook to me, or at least not an emphasized one. In fact, it seemed to go against the general unspoken rules of the community. I know that the few times a friend of a friend has tried to friend me, I've found it to be really strange (Gah! Couldn't think of a way to say that with less awkwardness.) The makeup of the site really doesn't seem conducive to this activity either. All you can do is like or friend things, not colleague them, or show interest in them... Perhaps this would be different if I were an executive in search of employees, though? I decided to do a bit of digging to find out how useful Facebook is in this capacity, or if this video needs to be a bit more specific.

My Findings...
After doing some poking around, I have mixed feelings. Apparently, Facebook has/had a "marketplace" feature for some time, where you could not only post job openings, but also sell things to those within your networks. I spent 15 minutes trying to find this feature on my account though, and STILL haven't. The article talking about this was a year old, so I wonder if this feature has already disappeared? Either way, it certainly isn't something they like to draw much attention to.

There are several other methods suggested, however. According to a few human interest stories, people have had success at times simply by posting a status update like, "Does anyone know of someone hiring an HR rep?" In addition, I found quite a few groups of fellow job hunters dedicated to sharing tips, and passing along information. These seem like more useful methods to me.

To get a bit more fancy, check out this article about setting up a Facebook business page as a promotional tool, or buying out add space to market yourself (actually surprisingly cheap!)

Overall, I think that while it might not be an ideal platform for this use, there are possibilities. In addition, many of them require very little effort, so why not? Just make sure that you've removed any embarrassing photos or quotes before you try to friend a future boss...