LinkedIn to shutter ‘stories’ this month as it works on replacement video feature | ZDNet

Microsoft’s LinkedIn jumped on the “creators” bandwagon early last year, adding “stories” to its platform as a way to share quick video updates.

But due to a lack of interest, the site will see stories removed by the end of the month.

“We introduced stories last year as a fun and casual way to share quick video updates. We’ve learned a ton. Now, we’re taking those learnings to evolve the stories format into a reimagined video experience across LinkedIn that’s even richer and more conversational,” LinkedIn senior director of product Liz Li said in a blog post.

“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.”

Li said LinkedIn will work on a new experience once the current one is shuttered.

She said feedback received from the stories feature from users of the platform was that disappearing videos was not something they wanted, that the userbase preferred videos to remain visible on a profile.

“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,” the blog explains.

“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.”

Further feedback, Li said, was that users wanted creative tools to make videos more engaging.

“With stories, members could use stickers and ‘the question of the day’ prompts to make videos more creative and engaging,” she said. “But you want even more ways to spruce up those videos in a professional context, and you want to do so across LinkedIn.”

The move from LinkedIn follows Twitter in July shutting down its stories-like product Fleets, which was intended to promote new people to contribute, but actually did not.

“Although we built Fleets to address some of the anxieties that hold people back from tweeting, Fleets are mostly used by people who are already Tweeting to amplify their own Tweets and talk directly with others.” the company said at the time.

“We’ll explore more ways to address what holds people back from participating on Twitter. And for the people who already are tweeting, we’re focused on making this better for you.”

MORE LINKEDIN NEWS