Facebook Vs. LinkedIn

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The easiest article to write this weekend was a version of "Why LinkedIn(LNKD) Rocks and Facebook(FB) is Lame."

After all, amid Facebook's ongoing saga, LinkedIn reported earnings after the stock market's close on Thursday and, wouldn't you know it, results were... good.

LinkedIn's top line -- up 89% and above expectations -- dropped jaws. Earnings were commendable too, despite the fact that the company spent heavily in an attempt to build out. But here's the kicker: LinkedIn raised numbers for the quarter and year. Cue those "Facebook is Reeling, LinkedIn Rising" articles.

Forbes went with: "Why Wall Street Likes LinkedIn More Than Facebook."

The problem is, media outlets from Forbes to The Associated Press running with these stories tried to identify reasons for the difference in fortunes between the two social media companies and mostly touched upon the same one: LinkedIn's professional customer base is more consistent and valuable to advertisers.

True enough, but they need to get more specific. For LinkedIn, mobile is apparently not the third rail that it is for Facebook.