Introducing type ahead for companies
We’ve just released our first version of a standardized company directory. This directory is a foundational component for enhancing a variety of features on LinkedIn, such as colleague reconnect, company search, and job search. We will also be able to leverage this directory to build brand new features, which will be announced in the coming months.
The directory was built using some high powered analytics and the data that users have provided about their companies. There is a rich database of companies in this release, and we will be gradually adding more companies over time.
If you don’t see your company in the type ahead, go ahead and put it on your profile and we’ll pick it up with a future iteration.
What does it look like?
When you are adding or editing a position on your profile, you will be able to start typing your company name and we’ll suggest some matches based on what you type. The matches include both alphabetical matches as well as related companies, such as subsidiaries and parent companies.
After you select a company from the list, we will pre-populate the company display name, industry, size, type, and ticker symbol whenever the information is available. You are free to edit these fields on your profile.
You can try out the new type ahead by adding or editing a position on your profile. Leave a comment with any questions.
trackback
http://blog.linkedin.com/2007/10/26/introducing-typ/trackback/
Tom Van Vleck October 26th, 2007
A really important feature would be intelligent processing for multiple names for the same company, e.g “Tandem”, “Tandem Computers”, “Tandem Computers Inc” or “MIT”, “M.I.T.”, “Massachusetts Institute of Technology”. People work around this in clumsy ways now by entering multiple jobs in their profile.
Even worse, multiple companies have used the same name at different times, countries or industries, e.g. AccuRay (1970s process measurement, 2000s medical devices). This is not a big issue till an update to one clobbers another.
Jasper de Valk October 31st, 2007
While pre-populating the company display name it would also be nice to suggest possible groups from the (corporate) groups directory..
Jayne Pickard November 27th, 2007
My sincere apologies if i am mis-using your site, however, i am trying to locate a Rudy Concepcion whom i have known since 1972 but lost contact with in 1976. A Google search of his name indicated there was a person of this name associated with your site. I met him on MV Eastern Queen, a cruise ship operated by Tah-Hing Co Ltd. He then relocated to the Sovereign Diamond. The last i heard from him was 8 Sept 1976 when he sent mail from Antwerpen, Belgium. I have spent many years trying to locate him, so if you could please pass this information on to the Rudy Concepcion you have on your database, then if it is the same person i am looking for he will be able to contact me if he wishes to do so. Yours in anticipation and appreciation. Jayne Pickard. Waikiki, Western Australia.
Jalal March 16th, 2008
I am curious if you folks are using a third party data provider to get all of this data?
if thats the case, can you please provide the name?
Thanks
Jenny Schuchert May 14th, 2008
How often do the business iterations occur? If I change my company’s description to match with the others in my company, how long will it take for my company to be listed? Even though we have been out there awhile, we aren’t in the business directory. Thanks.
Steve July 21st, 2008
How do I go back and combine (or at least cross reference) all of the different iterations of the company name that people have entered? Many of us have just entered the same experience years for several different versions of the company name (full name, abbreviation, with the Inc., parent company name, etc.) I’m missing out on lots of former colleagues due to this.