What does LinkedIn and Twitter share in common? Both introduced short-lived story features. LinkedIn today announced that it will discontinue its Stories feature effective September 30, and start working on a new way to add short-form videos on the platform.
LinkedIn announced the change in order to warn advertisers who may have purchased ads that ran between Stories. These will be shared instead on LinkedIn's feed. However, users who promoted or sponsored Stores from their pages will have to recreate them.
This is a terrible idea. I met my wife on LinkedIn Stories https://t.co/rMeA6gpYWI Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) August 31, 2021
LinkedIn introduced Stories in September. This was around the time that Twitter launched Fleets to all users. This was part a larger web- and mobile redesign that also included integrations with Zoom BlueJeans, Teams, and Teams. These integrations were designed to allow professionals to stay connected from their home offices. LinkedIn says that these temporary posts did not work on their platform.
We assumed that people would not want informal videos attached directly to their profiles. This was based on our assumption that ephemerality would lower the barriers people feel about posting. Liz Li, LinkedIn's Senior Director for Product, shared this insight in a blog post. You want to make lasting videos that tell your professional story and showcase your expertise in a more personal manner.
Li also pointed out that users desire more creative tools to create engaging videos. Stories had prompts and stickers, but they were lacking in creativity.
LinkedIn will join other platforms like Instagram and Snapchat if it succeeds in creating a short-form video feature. While most LinkedIn users won't post the same content to their LinkedIn accounts as on their personal social media accounts. However, there are prominent TikTokers who share career advice, resume guidance and interview tips. So LinkedIn's move to video may not seem so strange.
