LinkedIn will soon retire Stories but expand on creative tools allowing members to post videos that don’t disappear after 24 hours.
A year and a half after rolling out the Stories format on its platform, LinkedIn is announcing that it is about to retire the feature and work on evolving it into a “reimagined video experience across LinkedIn that’s even richer and more conversational.”
This so-called “evolved” format aims to embrace mixed media and creative tools consistently across the platform while working to integrate them more tightly with the users’ professional identities.
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LinkedIn will remove the current Stories experience by the end of September and replace it with the new experience.
Stories is a format now common throughout social media platforms. But on LinkedIn, it has served to share bite-sized glimpses of video content within a professional context. Professionals have used Stories to share insights, ask for help, and react to news and industry updates.
However, according to Liz Li, Senior Director of Product at LinkedIn, feedback has shown that members prefer that videos remain on the platform without disappearing within a 24-hour time frame.
“In developing Stories, we assumed people wouldn’t want informal videos attached to their profile, and that ephemerality would reduce barriers that people feel about posting. 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.”
Furthermore, the feedback gathered from the past year of experiencing Stories on LinkedIn points out to users requesting to have more creative tools at their disposal to create more engaging videos.
According to Li, “With Stories, members could use Stickers and ‘The Question of the Day’ prompts to make videos more creative and engaging. But you want even more ways to spruce up those videos in a professional context, and you want to do so across LinkedIn.”