LinkedIn Introduces Stories and a Redesign to Create a Friendlier Platform
September 25 2020 - 3:28PM
Dow Jones News
By Ann-Marie Alcántara
LinkedIn, the professional networking site owned by Microsoft
Corp., has rolled out a redesign and several new features,
including its own version of "stories" posts.
The stories format was first popularized by Snap Inc.'s
Snapchat, but similar formats subsequently appeared on other social
media platforms, notably Facebook Inc.'s Instagram in 2016. Twitter
Inc. in March announced it was testing a stories tool called
Fleets, and Pinterest Inc. unveiled Story Pins this week for an
invitation-only test.
In the same vein as other platforms, LinkedIn's Stories lets
people post videos, images or text to their profiles that disappear
after 24 hours.
LinkedIn's changes, introduced on Thursday, are aimed at
attracting and keeping users on the platform, which enjoys a
dominant position in career-minded networking but faces a raft of
recent startups in the same space. New social platforms like
Upstream or Alpha Exploration Co.'s Clubhouse have exploded in
popularity, particularly as people continue working at home and
apart from colleagues, partly by offering alternative experiences
to LinkedIn.
"LinkedIn is so heavily dependent on a résumé, which is a narrow
view of someone's potential," said Brianne Kimmel, founder and
managing partner of Worklife Ventures, a venture fund that invests
in companies creating new work tools. "We're now seeing, especially
in a post-Covid world, résumés are not quite the right format for
individuals to demonstrate their full capabilities."
LinkedIn wants to expand people's image of it from just a
platform to find a job or a person to a place where conversations
can also happen, said Kiran Prasad, vice president of product at
the company.
"Community and conversations have really become central to the
way that LinkedIn is growing," Mr. Prasad said.
LinkedIn began testing its take on stories internally in
February and started bringing it to international markets like
Brazil in April. The company found people used its Stories
primarily for three purposes: to share work moments like a new
work-from-home desk setup, to show how they work and to publicize
product launches, Mr. Prasad said. Other uses include asking for
advice, giving professional updates and highlighting industry
peers.
Social strategists said they were skeptical that the format
would work as well on LinkedIn as elsewhere.
"Because LinkedIn is highly focused on career, it'll never have
that true social network feel," said Jack Appleby, a social media
strategist. "Most people don't feel safe being candid on LinkedIn
and that'll likely be true when we consider if we'd actually post a
LinkedIn story."
Adding stories feels like a distraction for LinkedIn, said
Maggie Murphy, a senior strategist at Codeword LLC, a marketing
agency owned by Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Inc. Stories aren't
likely to lure younger generations to LinkedIn, either, because
they are already finding other places to connect, she said.
The other tweaks on the platform include updates to the way
search results appear on the different parts of LinkedIn, like
including events for the first time and grouping the results by
categories.
People can now edit or delete sent messages and react to
messages with emojis. In a few weeks, users will be able to start a
video chat within messages with providers like Zoom Video
Communications Inc., Verizon Communications Inc.'s BlueJeans By
Verizon and Microsoft Teams.
The move toward remote work has led to more people messaging
each other on the platform and looking for new ways to connect,
like video, Mr. Prasad said.
Other design updates include using a broader range of
illustrations around the site -- showing people with different
types of jobs, for example -- and adding animation to icons, said
Sarah Alpern, vice president of design at LinkedIn.
"The goal is we want everybody to be able to really see
themselves and feel welcome here at LinkedIn," Ms. Alpern said.
Though many startups are trying to emulate LinkedIn's networking
in micro-communities, the company's global scale has the potential
to effect change faster, said Ms. Kimmel of Worklife Ventures.
"LinkedIn, with some of these new features, will be able to
humanize work culture in a way that it would potentially take a
startup years to scale into mainstream adoption," Ms. Kimmel
said.
Write to Ann-Marie Alcántara at ann-marie.alcantara@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 25, 2020 15:13 ET (19:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Snap (NYSE:SNAP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Snap (NYSE:SNAP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024