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Even the hottest initial public stock offerings can lose steam after their first day of trading. Sure, company insiders will make money selling at the opening price. And investors who used connections or big bucks to score shares at the IPO price will profit if they sell after a first-day "pop. " For everyone else, the wildly mixed record of other ballyhooed IPOs beyond their first trading session offers a lesson. It's one that should remind us that buying Facebook stock Friday provides a chance to lose money.

The lukewarm response to Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering sent shares of other social-media companies tumbling Friday. The sell-off is a sign that Facebook is now a bellwether for the small sector, which is mainly composed of companies that have gone public in the last year. Facebook has a market capitalization more than 10 times larger than that of LinkedIn Corp., the closest equivalent already publicly traded. One of the biggest losers was game-maker Zynga Inc., whose shares fell so fast that trading was halted soon after Facebook started trading.

Goldman Sachs Group raised its rating on the biggest professional networking website to "buy" from "neutral. " The Mountain View, Calif., company's stock rose the third most in the Russell 1000. Growth in LinkedIn's hiring tools could exceed already high expectations, Goldman said. The firm raised its profit estimates and increased its 12-month price target to $135.

Facebook found more than enough friends. The world's definitive online social network said Thursday that it raised $16 billion for itself and its early investors in an initial public stock offering that values Facebook at $104 billion. That's more than Amazon.com and other well-known companies such as Kraft, Walt Disney and McDonald's. It's a big windfall for a company that began eight years ago with no way to make money. Facebook priced its IPO at $38 per share on Thursday, at the top of expectations.

Facebook found more than enough friends. The world's definitive online social network said Thursday that it raised $16 billion for itself and its early investors in an initial public stock offering that values Facebook at $104 billion. That's more than Amazon.com and other well-known companies such as Kraft, Walt Disney and McDonald's. It's a big windfall for a company that began eight years ago with no way to make money. Facebook priced its IPO at $38 per share on Thursday, at the top of expectations.

Professional networking service LinkedIn Corp. launched a Web button on Monday that lets job applicants submit their profiles on the site to jobs that interest them. The blue button, "Apply with LinkedIn," appears on online job listings on company and jobs websites alongside more general buttons such as "Apply Now" that recruiters have been using. It's LinkedIn's version of efforts by other online networks, such as Facebook, to spread beyond their own sites across the broader Web. LinkedIn said thousands of companies, including Netflix and...

Q. I have worked in the property-and-casualty field for 11 years and in health care for the last four. I am interested in working for a specific property-and-casualty company. I have received a phone call and an e-mail in response to resumes I sent. I responded, but did not hear back. One of the recruiters from this firm visited my LinkedIn page. I am considering attempting to connect with the recruiter through LinkedIn. Is it appropriate to do so? I am interested in even an entry level position.

Monster Worldwide Inc. of Maynard and New York soared after Reuters reported that LinkedIn Corp. and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners are among a number of parties that have expressed interest in a potential deal for the Internet jobs search company. Monster said in March it was reviewing strategic alternatives, including selling all or part of the company. Monster's 2012 share of online recruitment is estimated at 23 percent, below CareerBuilder.com's 32 percent but ahead of LinkedIn's 16 percent.

Monster Worldwide Inc.'s shares soared in trading Friday on a report that LinkedIn Corp. and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners are among several parties considering making a bid for the online-job-search company. THE SPARK: Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter who were not identified, reported Friday that LinkedIn, Silver Lake and others have expressed interest in Monster. Monster, LinkedIn and Silver Lake representatives were not immediately available to comment on the report.

First-quarter profit at LinkedIn, the professional-networking website that went public in 2011, beat analysts' estimates amid a jump in membership. It is pushing mobile technology to woo more people to its subscription services and attract advertisers. Net income rose to $5 million, or 4 cents a share, from $2.08 million, or zero cents, a year earlier. It also agreed to buy SlideShare Inc. for $118 million.

LinkedIn Corp. said Thursday that its first-quarter profit more than doubled, and the business networking company is buying presentation sharing website SlideShare for $118.8 million. Shares jumped $9.29, or more than 8 percent, to $118.70 in extended trading. If that rally extends into Friday's regular trading session, LinkedIn's stock price will be close to its peak of $122.70 reached during the shares' market debut nearly a year ago. The stock has remained well above its initial public offering price of $45 since then.

LinkedIn Corp.'s first-quarter earnings report will show whether the online professional networking service has been able to sustain the rapid growth that has wooed investors since the company's stock market debut nearly a year ago. WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The results, due out after the stock market closes Thursday, will be the latest litmus test for LinkedIn's shares, which closed Monday at $108.45 — about 172 times its projected earnings and...

Back on my first newspaper reporting job, covering a small local government in the mid-1990s, I was given my first symbol of work responsibility: a beeper. Theoretically, it would go off in the event of some critical breaking news. In reality, it usually beeped around dinnertime, when a copy editor had a minor question about a story. Nonetheless, attaching it to my belt made me feel important. I needed to be reached. Now, I am reachable via an array of much smarter electronic devices, and my perceived-importance-to-actual-importance ratio...

LinkedIn users can now access the professional social network on their iPad with an application launched Thursday. The free app is available through Apple Inc.'s iTunes store. LinkedIn says the app helps today's increasingly mobile professionals who aren't always tethered to a desktop. LinkedIn says users often log on to the site through their iPads in the early morning to prepare for meetings and in the evening, on the couch. The iPad app targets these people with a calendar function and other features optimized for the device.

The person responsible for all those annoying LinkedIn requests we get? That'd be Reid Hoffman, the venture capitalist cofounder of the social network site for businesspeople. This week, Hoffman spoke to students and faculty at Harvard's Institute of Politics, and suggested that networking is about more than the means to an end. The Harvard Crimson quoted Hoffman as saying: "We should be asking questions like, ‘How can we dance together?' rather than, ‘How can this person be a useful asset to me?