Social media has taken on a new, interactive role beyond its origins as a tool to connect with new and old friends. Facebook now lets users join favourite celebrities’ pages, Twitter lets us know what they’re up to at any given moment, and Instagram can show us what they ate for breakfast (through filters, no less). The Wikipedia article on social media links to over 200 social media sites with focuses ranging from books, to architecture, to knitting.

The majority of social media sites only seek to connect people on a casual basis. A few, LinkedIn being the best-known example, are professional networking sites that help connect individuals interested in establishing professional relationships.

LinkedIn was founded nearly a year before Facebook, and is now amongst the leading social media sites for professional networking. Setting up a LinkedIn account allows users to present a desirable profile to prospective employers who Google their name. However, one drawback of LinkedIn is that it serves as a general overview of a resume, rather than a portfolio of work— an important feature for many professions.

This shortcoming has sparked a number of new social media networks that cater to specific professional interests. Here are a few worth checking out:

ResearchGate

A site created by, and for, researchers, ResearchGate helps connect researchers of all subjects under one professional network. Queries from appropriate growth media for macrophages to Newtonian physics, can be discussed with other like-minded researchers. The site also links all your publications on one page, helping to establish an online resume.

Contently

Contently is designed for freelance journalists and writers, and serves as one location for prospective employers to find portfolios. Designed to help build users’ brands, Contently automatically links your work to your page, as well as provides statistics on your work such as share counts.

Behance

A professional network for artists and photographers, Behance helps showcase users’ best work to prospective employers, thereby providing them with a visual portfolio. Behance, and several of the other social networks, can be connected to LinkedIn accounts.

QFive

This social network predominantly targets athletes, and helps users share their best game plays with potential recruiters and fans.

These are some of the more popular social media networks geared towards people with particular professional interests. There are many more sites that are either established, or in the process of being set up that cater to people in other professions.

Social media has come a long way from the debacles of MySpace and Orkut, and establishing a social presence is increasingly important, especially with employers using Google to find out more information about prospects. Use this to your advantage, by having a resume or a portfolio come up when your name is typed into Google. This can improve your career opportunities, or simply give you a chance to network with others who share your professional interests.