LinkedIn is retiring Stories, its “bite-sized” video-creation function, though the professional social media platform promises to substitute it with an even better video feature in the future.
A year ago, LinkedIn decided to copy the stories function from Snapchat and Instagram, enabling you to post short videos to your professional profile. The clips expires after 24 hours, so you could, in theory, share off-the-cuff moments without worrying about the clip becoming a permanent part of your account. However, LinkedIn discovered users who gravitated toward Stories wanted the videos to remain up indefinitely.
“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,” wrote LinkedIn Senior Director of Product Liz Li in the announcement. “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 addition, users have been asking for more video-editing tools with the Stories function. “With Stories, members could use Stickers and ‘The Question of the Day’ prompts to make videos more creative and engaging,” Li said. “But you want even more ways to spruce up those videos in a professional context, and you want to do so across LinkedIn.”
As a result, LinkedIn is retiring the official Stories feature by the end of next month. However, it plans on replacing it with a “reimagined video experience” that promises to be even richer and more conversational, according to Li.
“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,” she added.
The Stories function was only available over LinkedIn mobile’s app. So it sounds like the platform is preparing to bring the reimagined video experience to desktop and mobile.
