After Games, LinkedIn Plans Videos
It seems Microsoft is keen to cross-sell its other products on this networking platform
Barely a week ago, we had reported how LinkedIn was working on getting a few games on board to boost user engagement. Now, we hear that the networking platform is testing out a short-video feed with the same outcome in mind. And what about the serious business of networking between professionals? Well, who says one cannot mix business with pleasure?
According to TechCrunch, the TikTok-like platform is being tested now and once approved by the stakeholders will result in the LinkedIn platform joining several others that have their own short video feeds. Maybe, this is Microsoft’s way of keeping away competition from Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat (and others too).
Per the report, the feed was first spotted by a senior official at an influencer agency called McKinney who then posted a demo on LinkedIn itself on how the new feed works and where it could be positioned. Of course, the purpose of this innovation appears to be vague as of now as it doesn’t really gel with what LinkedIn has done for its users over the years.
We could post videos earlier too, so why this?
Just so that our readers know, there’s a Video tab on the navigation bar of LinkedIn which contains a Video button that will take users into a vertical feed of short videos. Are they random ones? Or from direct connections or once or twice removed? Not clear about this yet, but knowing Microsoft, they wouldn’t think twice before flooding your feed, unless of course you ask them to stop by clicking on some well-hidden button.
And what does LinkedIn want you to do once you get to this page? Well, exactly the same list of things that you would do or may have done in the past on your Facebook feed. You read that right… just go like a video, leave a comment and share it if you so desire. So, those of us who quit Facebook for the more meaningful LinkedIn, it’s time to rethink our strategy.
Of course, a few of us at work discussed the need for a short video feed on LinkedIn. Yes, there are several other apps that include such feeds with a variety of content ranging from workouts to cooking and comedy clips. Since LinkedIn focuses on careers and professional connections, we wonder how such videos would be useful to this target audience.
Better monetisation and a creator-first environment?
It is not as if one couldn’t post videos on LinkedIn. Having a dedicated feed might boost engagement, but the question is would that be the right kind of engagement? Of course, LinkedIn seems to think videos are critical to engage with users, more so in the learning and development side of things. Does that mean LinkedIn wants to join the extremely dubious world of education technology in the future?
During our chinwag around the development, a colleague thought that maybe LinkedIn wants to give a free hand to content creators to amass their own followings and grow as an influencer on the network. Imagine short videos on topics around job searches, career path, the value of coaching etc. coming out!
The new feed could just be the avenue for creators to reach a wider audience and possibly even pay LinkedIn to reach them. The problem with such an approach is that it could catch the attention of digital regulators. Readers would recall that LinkedIn is already under watch of the European Commission for its ad targeting methodology.
