LinkedIn = Yellow Book + Relationships & Recommendations

Venture Beat focuses on how the Recommendation feature can be used when lawyer shopping: "If you are searching for an attorney, for example, no point going to the phone book. You can click on the “services” tab at LinkedIn, then select “attorney” and see if anyone in your network as recommended an attorney in the field you’re looking" to find.

According to Mashable Social Networking News, LinkedIn has been the new Yellow Pages since 2006.

Mark Brooks adds that "trust follows the channels of social networks."