Just when I finally, kinda, sorta almost made LinkedIn part of my daily social media habit, a connection (that would be Victoria Ipri, author of our giveaway book Social Media for the Clueless last month) posted a link asking for feedback on BranchOut.

My first reaction was “for the love of all that’s holy, don’t make me click on this link because it’s about yet another social media site I can’t find time to work.”

But I need 31 blog posts this month, so I went there.

And discovered a Facebook app where you are invited “to tap into your friend network for an inside connection to opportunities at top companies!” In the name of research, I signed up using my Facebook account to verify and my LinkedIn profile to populate it. It helpfully told me that my friends at FB could increase my professional reach by 3,000 percent if only I spread the word (I skipped that step, as I don’t want someone to really think I’m looking for a job), and I was encouraged to take career IQ tests, and answer questions speculating on how my friends might handle their career lives. They also tempted me to start a catfight by asking which of two friends did I think would be the hardest working.

My favorite section was the list of supposedly my most influential friends in the job networking game: a gal I met on LinkedIn about a year ago over a political petition, a dude from my high school I’ve said less than a paragraph to in my lifetime, my bridesmaid’s college roommate who is now a stay-at-home mom I haven’t seen in nearly 25 years, and … my husband.

I do NOT need an online social network to gain influence through the man I’ve slept with for 28 years.

Now I’m willing to admit I didn’t take this exploration cruise seriously because I’m not hunting for a career move. But our blogger Mark Fidelman, who is on the hiring side of the game, says he finds things like leaderboards and recommendations useful. And if you’re seeking full-time employment, that might just be enough to give BranchOut a whirl.