The FINANCIAL -- Online job boards and third-party search firms may be losing out to social media when companies search for new employees, based on June 2010 research from recruiting platform Jobvite.

Nearly three-quarters of companies surveyed were using social networks for recruiting, and 58.1% said they had successfully hired a candidate found through a social network.

LinkedIn was the top social network looked to for hiring, used by nearly 80% of companies recruiting through social media. It also provided the most success, with about 90% of companies who had hired through a social network reporting they found the candidate on LinkedIn. While Facebook and Twitter were used for recruiting by about 55% and 45% of companies, respectively, they led to far fewer hires: 27.5% for Facebook and 14.2% for Twitter.

Success in this area is leading almost half of employers to increase recruiting program spending on social media. At the same time, more than a third of companies were lowering spending on job boards and search firms.

March 2010 data from online job board Monster.com painted a somewhat different picture: 42% of companies surveyed said social networks were useful for recruiting college students, while 82% said large, all-purpose online job boards&mash;such as Monster.com—were useful.

That study also found that only about a quarter of companies were advertising entry-level positions on social sites.

“While the economy begins to recover, companies looking to make new hires are seeking the most cost-effective, efficient ways to find new talent,” said Dan Finnigan, president and CEO of Jobvite, in a statement. “Job boards launched a revolution in recruiting more than 15 years ago. And now, social networks are doing the same—but in a targeted way. Through social recruiting, companies are learning they can find the best talent efficiently, without making a major investment.”

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