• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 28, 2011

According to Lou Kerner, Vice President of Equity Research at Wedbush Securities, it's a new platform called BranchOut, which helps people network professionally via Facebook. But you better hurry up, because at the rate things are going, someone will likely be the BranchOut of LinkedIn. That's how fast things are changing in the social media industry, Kerner said during a conversation at OMMA Global in San Francisco.

To illustrate that point, Kerner said he called up the founder of BranchOut recently to congratulate him on its success.

"'Thank for the congratulations,'" Kerner recalled the BranchOut founder telling him. "'It's been a great three months.' That's where we are at."