Yes we know, someone else is trying to get in on the social media scene with ‘something unique’ to offer. Resist the urge to stop reading and turn your attention back to the overflowing portfolio of social sites you might be struggling to keep on top of – new affinity networking tool beBee actually SOLVES the eternal struggle of social media.

Faced with a dilemma of choosing between having a social or professional profile? beBee aims itself at professional users who enjoy a healthy spectrum of hobbies on the side. Its homepage displays feeds from your chosen interest areas (Hives) and suggests new ‘hives’ to follow. We’ve had a quick play of the platform and sure enough beBee is adding new Hives by the day as its user base increases, so you might just be able to find the right thing that scratches your itch!

What’s in it for the communications, PR and marketing professionals? Here’s where beBee might be worth a second glance. With a job search element, communications professionals will be able to exploit this platform to showcase their organisation through job adverts. On a personal level, this will be useful when looking at changing jobs or having a look at vacancies in particular industries.

Only a year old to date, this combination of social and professional networking sets beBee apart from the plethora of social platforms out there and we think there is still much that we can expect to see from beBee. The facts speak for itself - beBee’s user base is steadily creeping up; 2015 saw staggering growth, pushing beBee’s user base up to 9 million, with 25,000 new Bees added per day.

So will this platform overtake LinkedIn as the go-to professional networking site (with a bit of social fun on the side)? We think there’s still a good deal of progress to be made before that happens, especially in terms of content and users, but at the rate it’s going, we’ll definitely bee keeping an eye on it!