LinkedIn, my favorite of the social networks, has rolled out an awesome new feature called Company Profiles (as reported in TechCrunch, full walk-through available here). Heretofore, I used LinkedIn as a rolodex and for competitive intelligence, but this new feature is truly game changing.

The user-supplied information, though prone to all sorts of error, gives companies a transparency previously unavailable anywhere. I typed in my company (which has a large percentage of employees on LinkedIn) and was given fast insight into a treasure trove of useful data. Some of the most interesting windows available were recent promotions, new hires, career path, top schools, median employee age, and most common job titles.

The information supplied by an individual (like age, college, company, job title, etc) is mostly meaningless by itself. But with the new Company Profiles feature, LinkedIn has managed to take an exceptionally large volume of seemingly innocuous data, and compile it into fascinating and meaningful reporting.

Comparing my company to a close competitor, the difference in business strategy is definitely noticeable. Which leads me to an important point: How will companies react to this new user-supplied transparency in the long run?

I can envision a few draconian companies launching knee-jerk initiatives to prevent personnel from putting information on LinkedIn. Companies might not be so keen on having this information readily available for curious eyes to pour over. However, in the long run, I don’t think there is much that organizations will be able to do to halt the sharing of aggregated information on themselves.

I love it - what are your thoughts?