After the success of the ‘stories’ feature on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat etc, LinkedIn is following suit on that trend. The feature should offer professionals a platform to express their creativity while sharing their work with their connections.

The feature was first tested back in 2018 as an experiment to see how college students react to it. The aim was to study how the users feel about adding a young and fun tone to the professional platform. With the recent surge in younger users on the platform, the feature was slowly rolled out in Brazil, Netherlands and UAE in the last few months and now in Australia to make the platform a little more relaxed.

With posts being permanent on the platform, LinkedIn noticed that a lot of people are hesitant to freely express themselves. Adding the stories feature on the platform will allow users to share photos, videos, stickers and text that will only stay on their profile for 24 hours. The feature will be available to both people and brands and the individual posts can last up to 20 seconds. Users will be able to see who has viewed their stories and will be given the option to delete the stories from their feed if they want to.

How your LinkedIn stories will look

The aim is to improve connectivity on the platform by making communication between professionals easier. Over the last year, the platform observed a considerable spike in engagement through LinkedIn Live. The demand for stories like features and its success has already been observed across most other social media platforms. This new addition could work towards making a more social environment on LinkedIn which currently has a business only feel to it. LinkedIn also plans on improving productivity and mental health by helping people stay connected amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It also hinted to be working towards virtual events in the future.

LinkedIn may face a few challenges with the release of their new features with regards to integrity since its major demographic is a more mature one and the platform has boasted throughout its lifetime of being a truly professional social platform. However, users could creatively exploit the new feature to explore new connections on the platform. How users will receive the update remains to be seen