Popular social media platform – LinkedIn will be joining the likes of Twitter that shutdown Fleets. LinkedIn announces it will suspend its Stories feature on September 30 and exploring a different way to add short-form videos to the platform. These Stories feature is that section on the platform that appears at the top and disappears after 24 hours. LinkedIn Stories are quite similar to Instagram Stories. The story feature was introduced to users last year to share short-form video content on the professional networking platform. Now, it intends to use the learnings from Stories to create a new experience across LinkedIn.
Liz Li Senior Director of Product at LinkedIn in a blog post said that “We introduced Stories last year as a fun and casual way to share quick video updates. We’ve learned a ton. Now, we’re taking those learnings to evolve the Stories format into a reimagined video experience across LinkedIn that’s even richer and more conversational. We want to embrace mixed media and creative tools of Stories in a consistent way across our platform while working to integrate it more tightly with your professional identity. Turns out, you want to create lasting videos that tell your professional story in a more personal way and that showcase both your personality and expertise.”
Li also noted that users want “more creative tools to make engaging videos.” While Stories included stickers and prompts, users craved for more creative functionality. LinkedIn announced the upcoming change to warn advertisers who might have already purchased ads that would run in between Stories. Those will instead be shared on the LinkedIn feed, but users who promoted or sponsored Stores directly from their page will need to remake them. Li said, “If you promoted or sponsored a Story directly from your Page in Campaign Manager, these paid Stories will not appear in the LinkedIn feed, and they will need to be recreated in Campaign Manager as an image or video ad”.
LinkedIn in its blog post said “As we reimagine what is next, we’re focusing on how we can provide you with a short-form, a rich interactive video format that is unique to our platform and that better helps you reach and engage your audiences on LinkedIn. We’re always excited to try out new things and learn as we go, and will continue to share updates along the way”
LinkedIn is not the only platform that has discontinued stories. Twitter removed Fleets last month. The company had hoped that Fleets would bring new users but the only people who really adopted the new feature were the old Twitter users.
Olagoke Ajibola is a creative writer and content producer with an eye for details and excellence. He has a demonstrated history of telling stories for TV, Film and Online. Aside from being fascinated by the power of imagination, his other interest are travel, sport, reading and meeting people.
