A new site I discovered recently called Backtype, is very similar to the fast-growing and popular microblogging site, Twitter. Backtype is like Twitter in that you can “find, follow and share comments across the web.”

Recruiters and Sourcers will instantly see the benefit of using Backtype to not only identify active and passive talent, but the site also represents a goldmine of solid leads to pursue, such as other networks, communities and places to discover talent to fill open positions. In the example below, you can see that Backtype offers advanced searching across their network of comments:

I found a few hundred comments tracked by Backtype that had the key phrase “my resume.” These are a few potential leads to check into:

You can also search across people as well. I ran a quick search for “John” and hundreds of “John’s” pulled up with searchable profiles, where you can view all of there comments. Great way to determine if this person may or may not be a potential fit for any open positions (i.e. mentions key words and skills, talks about his/her company, talks about what they do, etc.). In another example of people on Backtype, I used the key word “java”. The search pulled up a few hundred people using Java in the online ID. Here were my results:

Finally, Backtype is a place where your comments can “find a home to be discovered by others” For example, a recruiter can leave comments on blogs, news sites, journals and other places online, and leave his/her signature along with comments and links to their company (helping to brand the company) and open positions (helping to attract more potential candidates).