LinkedIn has announced that it will phase out its current Stories feature from the platform. The senior director of product, Liz Li, said in a blog post that the company expects to eliminate the present Stories experience by the end of September this year. LinkedIn launched internal testing for video Stories in February 2020.
Stories are short bits of content that automatically delete themselves from public view after 24 hours. They were first made famous by Snapchat before being copied by Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, WhatsApp, Google, YouTube, Skype, Spotify, and TikTok.
Partly, the reason for the closure was because LinkedIn discovered that users didn’t want their videos to disappear over some time. Liz explained that when they were launching Stories, they anticipated that individuals wouldn’t want casual videos tied to their profile, and that ephemerality would lessen the obstacles to posting. However, it turned out people want to make long-lasting videos that convey their professional biography in a more personal way, showcasing both their personality and expertise.”
Liz mentioned in her blog that last year, LinkedIn created Stories as a fun and casual way to send short video updates. Through this initiative, they have gained a lot of knowledge. Now, they are using what they have learned to rethink the Stories format across LinkedIn as a deeper, more conversational video experience.
She said that the firm aims to adopt Stories’ mixed media and creative tools consistently across the platform while also integrating it with the user’s professional profile. Stories give you a simple method to share your thoughts, seek help, and respond to News and industry changes, Li stated.
Consequently, the present Stories feature will be removed by the end of September as part of this shift. “Thank you to those of you who used Stories to distribute bite-sized chunks of video information in a professional setting,” Li remarked.
She also revealed in a blog post that LinkedIn has started alerting advertisers and users who knew the functionality existed in the first place, and any ad campaigns set to run after that date would be canceled. Brands and advertisers who pay to have their content appear between other users’ Stories or pushed on News Feeds will be most affected by the decision.
