Last week, LinkedIn launched its company directory, after several months in beta testing. The directory allows users to search companies by industry, location and company size and provides a variety of key statistics related to that industry that is aggregated from the profiles of users who identify themselves as current or past affiliates of that company.

The directory pages display information for current employees at the company, new hires, changes and promotions. The page only displays information for LinkedIn users who are within “three degrees” of an individual’s network. This means the appearance of profile pages will vary from user to user, depending on the degree you are “linked in” to individuals at that company. LinkedIn users who are affiliated with a company can adjust their privacy settings so they don’t show up on their company’s directory page. Otherwise, you’re fair game, so be warned.

Company directory pages also feature a company’s “Key Statistics,” such as top locations, annual revenue and common job titles, which LinkedIn says are “aggregated from non-personally identifiable data of LinkedIn users who are currently employed by this company.” They also note that “this data only reflects estimates about this company’s employees and is not endorsed or provided by the company.”The company descriptions themselves are provided by Capital IQ, an information and software services provider. LinkedIn encourages company representatives to contact them to report any inaccuracies.

LinkedIn describes benefits of company profile pages to individual users as follows:

  • Find the right contact in your network at companies you are trying to partner with, work at, or buy products from.
  • View job opportunities at companies in your field and better understand the types of roles the company hires for.

  • Read the latest news about about the company and learn about people that have recently joined the company.

For companies, LinkedIn profiles allow “former, current, and potential employees and their networks can become valuable access points for business partners, customers, and potential recruits who are trying to engage with your company.”

In the near future, LinkedIn will allow companies to add the following features to their company profile:

  • Post targeted jobs, recruitment videos, and other promotional material for recruitment

  • Post information about products and services

  • Upload company images

So what do I think? Sounds to me like another great, free tool that allows your organization to leverage not only your own social network, but those of your employees, to engage with prospective customers, clients and employees. Just make sure the information provided is accurate, and let the social networking begin.