LinkedIn trials TikTok-style short video feed

Innovation

The social platform for corporates is testing out a new feature that looks similar to Instagram Reels or TikTok’s For You page
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 11: In this photo illustration, the LinkedIn app is seen on a mobile phone on January 11, 2021 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Edward Smith/Getty Images)

LinkedIn is trialling a video feed on its app where creators can post reel or TikTok-style short videos, first reported by Austin Null, strategy director at McKinney, who posted a screen recording of the feed to his LinkedIn last week.

The video feed appears as an icon at the bottom of the screen, next to Home and My Network – though, the feature is in early testing, so not all members have access to the tab.

“Videos are rapidly becoming one of our members’ favourite formats to learn from other professionals and experts,” a LinkedIn spokesperson told Forbes Australia. “So, we are testing new ways to help members more easily discover timely, relevant videos to watch on LinkedIn.”

There is certainly demand for short videos on careers – in fact, #careertok had reached nearly two billion views on TikTok in January 2024, while #corporate had about 11 billion views. And ex-corporates are finding celebrity on the platform – Microsoft’s former VP of human resources, Chris Williams, has amassed more than 225,000 followers, and his video ‘HR is not your friend’ has been viewed more than two million times.

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LinkedIn, whose main demographic is between 24 and 35, is yet to take advantage of the growing interest in short videos on careers, with the majority of creators posting written content. But the new feed comes as the platform looks to become more competitive in the creator sphere. It has a dedicated creator relations team and announced a $25 million investment into creators via the launch of its LinkedIn Creator Accelerator program in the US, India, Brazil and the UK.

LinkedIn, which was bought by Microsoft back in 2016 for US$26 billion, has been gaining popularity, clocking 1 billion users in November 2023, most of which are in the United States (about 200 million), followed by India (just over 100 million). And executives still rate it the number one choice for professionally-relevant content, according to a December blog post.

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