Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are becoming important tools for job seekers looking for opportunities as well as for recruiters searching for talent.
With a critical mass of job seekers and organisations now using these platforms, searching for jobs and talent online has become a global trend, with more Kenyan companies catching on.
"It is an effective way to reach people, especially younger people," said Sheila Mwihia, the Pedersen & Partners country manager.
"You create awareness about the job without having to take out advert space."
Deloitte East Africa is the latest recruiter to run a social media campaign behind this year's graduate recruitment drive.
Through the campaign launched last month, the auditing firm is using Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to reach young graduates looking to join the firm.
"We thought to use social media to reach out to as many graduates as possible," said Ann Muraya, the Talent and Audit partner.
"We will not be going to the universities this year, but will send a letter notifying them and mainly use social media."
To raise awareness on its social media efforts, the company held an open day at the University of Nairobi, the first of three to be held in the region as part of attracting talent.
The company has also put out a video on YouTube with staff members talking about the company, the environment, the opportunities available and why one would want to launch their career at Deloitte.
The three minute video, launched late March, is part of the company's strategy to reach the modern job seeker.
Deloitte is also using two twitter accounts as well as its official Facebook page. "It is part of attracting top talent in the region and using technology to do so," Ms Muraya said.
The social networking scene is growing with different websites offering different options. Some are viewed to work best for younger talent while others are more suitable for executives.
Facebook and Twitter are viewed as ideal for spreading the word about an opportunity but not necessarily for recruiting.
Ms Mwihia, who mainly recruits executives, said Facebook and Twitter are not ideal for some job positions; however LinkedIn is gaining popularity as a talent search site.
"For executive positions sometimes social media is not an effective way, it's more effective with younger people," she said. "LinkedIn has been accepted as a professional network."
LinkedIn is a social networking site mainly used for professional networking.
With more than 150 million registered users, according to the site, recruiters are able to read the professional profiles, recommendations and even see their network.
Recruiters use the website to research, engage and eventually hire people.
Companies are using the professional Website to advertise jobs and users can save jobs they are interested in as well as follow different companies to get notifications on any opportunities.
It also allows people to join different communities, mainly professional, linking one to people with similar professional interests.
Google+, the social networking site by Google, makes it easy for an individual to distinguish contacts into discreet groups like friends, family and professional contacts.
Initially social media was frowned upon with companies blocking the sites for their staff. Ms Mwihia said this is "gradually" changing.
"Social media is now seen as an opportunity to get information. Companies can't run away from social media," she said, adducing that the sites have also become reference checking points for recruiters.
A survey carried last year in the US by Jobvite, a leading recruiting platform for the social Web, showed that there has been a steady increase by employers in the use of social media.
The survey showed that at least 90 per cent, of the more than 800 US-based human resources and recruitment professionals polled, planned to use social networks to find job candidates, while 64 per cent of those surveyed hired through social medial last year, compared to 58 per cent in 2010.
