Variety Launches The Biz, Career Network for the Entertainment Industry, Powered by Jobster

[Note:  The following post is about some news at Jobster where I am a board member and the former CEO]

Last summer the Jobster team started working on what we call "powered-by Jobster," which enables publishers to build their own branded versions of Jobster on their own sites.

Today, Variety launched the first such Powered-by-Jobster site, The Biz, an online career networking site for the Entertainment Industry.  http://thebiz.variety.com/



The is a big step forward towards the verticalization and specialization of social networks.  It makes total sense.  The entertainment industry is all about networking.  Now there is a networking site for entertainment professionals, tightly integrated with jobs and career advice, powered by the leader in entertainment industry news and views, Variety.

Variety's homepage features this ad promoting the new site today -- the ad is also appearing in print in the offline Variety magazine.

A quick search of the site finds that nearly 1000 people in the Los Angeles area have already created profiles before 9am pacific today.  Not a bad start!

WebPro News writes:

Variety magazine has launched a social networking site called "the Biz" which will be focused on the entertainment business.

The site focuses on three main areas.  Connect: Find colleagues, peers and mentors in the entertainment industry. Networking made easy. Careers: Meet professionals directly inside entertainment. Recruit new talent. Search for jobs, promotions or projects.

Community: Exchange ideas. Projects or test your latest big pitch among peers. Industry experts are here to bounce ideas. Your big break starts here.

The site allows users of Facebook or Linkedin to import their existing profile information. Users can upload photos, videos or resumes to their profile. The Biz is powered by Jobster and allows users to search for jobs and for recruiters to post job openings.

"The Biz will give our readers a unique new way to interact and forge relationships with their peers in the community," Variety president and publisher Neil Stiles told the magazine.

Mashable writes:

Variety Launches a Branded Jobster Network

February 19, 2008 -- 05:30 AM PST -- by Kristen Nicole --

Printed publications have been doing a lot to get additional brand recognition and ad support in the online world, and lately, a lot of this has been in the way of integrated networking solutions, with existing networks and with networks of their own. One area that's been melding with social networks on a larger scale is the job sector, as we've seen with Monster, and entertainment news publication Variety is launching a social network for this purpose.

In conjunction with Jobster, this new network, called "The Biz," is actually a white-labeled version of the popular job-finding service. This network isn't just for Variety to reach out to potential employees, but its a self-contained network where employers can post jobs and seek out potential new hires. As Jobster is known for its take on social networking for the purpose of enabling users to build relationships and leverage those relationships in the job-hunting and hiring process, "The Biz" allows Variety to offer both ends of this spectrum for entertainment jobs, under a brand that people recognize.