LinkedIn adds profile option for companies

By Ed Oswald | Published March 21, 2008, 3:26 PM

What kind of personality can a corporation have? Does it deserve its own Web profile? And can corporations congregate in a mutual messaging session? Thanks to LinkedIn's latest move, we're about to find out.

Up until now, LinkedIn has relied on professionals to build its user base. Now, it's extending its social network to include profiles for corporations.

LinkedIn is hoping that the new option would allow companies to use the service to connect in a more direct fashion with prospective employees, customers, and partners.

The service counts some 20 million professionals as members. This includes executives from every single Fortune 500 company, as well as a wide range of household names across a variety of industries.

A company's profile will include the standard LinkedIn profile information, which will be enhanced by a description of the company, relevant statistics, and even targeted job listings. Interested users can delve in deeper by looking at typical career paths, as well as job titles and how their current network may connect them to current company employees.

Currently, the focus is on recruitment, however the company says it plans to add in employment benefit information as well as data on a company's products, among other things.