LinkedIn is going to remove their stories platform on September 30 despite the company remaining committed to expanding its video capabilities.
LinkedIn will soon be removing the Stories feature. In a fashion as short-lived as Twitter’s Fleets, LinkedIn has announced that the feature won’t be available after the end of September.
As it turns out stories isn’t a one-size-fits-all feature that will be a runaway success on all social media platforms.
LinkedIn has discovered that many of its users did love the idea of viewing more video content on their profiles. However, the Stories platform never really took off in the way it was hoped.
Here’s more about why the “short-lived” stories feature failed on LinkedIn, what it means for users and advertisers, and what the company has planned for the future.
What Went Wrong With LinkedIn Stories?
In an announcement, LinkedIn admits it had made incorrect assumptions with regard to what users want out of an informal video product such as stories.
“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.”
In other words, users liked stories but didn’t like the fact that they disappeared, like on other platforms.
Perhaps users felt as though it wasn’t worth going to the effort to create professional stories for LinkedIn knowing they’re not permanent.
Instead of simply making stories last forever, LinkedIn is removing the feature completely and working on something entirely new.
What Happens on September 30?
Starting on September 30, 2021, LinkedIn will be removing the existing stories experience.
For users, this means they will no longer be able to create stories for pages.
Advertisers who were planning ads in between stories will instead be relocated to the main LinkedIn feed.
Any stories that were promoted directly from a page in Campaign Manager will not appear in the LinkedIn feed. They will need to be recreated as an image or video ad.
What’s Next For LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is planning on using what it has learnt in order to evolve video on the platform with new video-sharing said to be richer and more conversational than stories:
“We want to embrace mixed media and creative tools of Stories in a consistent way across our platform, while working to integrate it more tightly with your professional identity.”
LinkedIn notes that users enjoyed the creative tools integrated with the stories editor.
Features like stickers and “Question of the Day” prompts helped users make videos that were more creative and engaging and are therefore likely to remain a part of any future releases.
However, users would prefer if they could enhance videos in a more professional context. They also want the ability to edit videos across all of LinkedIn, not just within a specific feature like stories.
LinkedIn hasn’t revealed further details about the upcoming video platform that is being worked on, or when it will launch, but you should now have a general idea of where the feature is headed.
