Skip to main content

LinkedIn embraces video with Q & A clips from its top influencers

LinkedIn is following in the footsteps of its fellow social networks by introducing videos on its platform.

This being LinkedIn, however, things will be kept professional, so don’t expect to see disappearing videos that you can doodle on, and add emojis to. In fact, general users won’t get a chance to record clips altogether.

Recommended Videos

For now, only LinkedIn Influencers (a collective of high-profile members selected by the social network) can upload videos. The short clips will last up to 30 seconds, and will involve Influencers discussing a business trend or topic curated by the LinkedIn editorial team. Influencers will also be able to create their own topic discussion for other Influencers to weigh in on.

LinkedInMobileFeed (3)The site’s 433 million users will see the videos of Influencers they follow appear on their feed, and will be able to interact with a clip by commenting on it. LinkedIn currently has over 500 Influencers, including Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, and Narendra Modi, meaning content shouldn’t be hard to come by.

Influencers will create videos using an exclusive iOS app entitled “Record.” Offering special features to high-profile users is common in the world of social media — the likes of Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook have all done it. A number of videos have already been shared on LinkedIn, with topics ranging from tips for startup founders to the onset of AI in the workplace.

“The addition of rich video content in the feed, gives [LinkedIn users] yet one more way to get news, insights and access to the world’s top thought leaders,” Jonathan (Jasper) Sherman-Presser, senior product manager at Linkedin, told Digital Trends. “They also have the unique … opportunity to engage directly with these insights through likes, shares and comments.”

LinkedIn claims that this is just the start for videos on its platform, which will be rolled out extensively in the future. Those plans won’t include a wider launch for its “Record” app, with videos instead being integrated directly into LinkedIn.

“We believe there is a huge opportunity to expand the ways our members can collect and share knowledge, and video will play a role in that,” Sherman-Presser says. “We are evaluating the experience and determining the best approach for expanding video more broadly in the future.”

Saqib Shah
Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…
Bluesky finally adds a feature many had been waiting for
A blue sky with clouds.

Bluesky has been making a lot of progress in recent months by simplifying the process to sign up while at the same time rolling out a steady stream of new features.

As part of those continuing efforts, the social media app has just announced that users can now send direct messages (DMs).

Read more
Reddit just achieved something for the first time in its 20-year history
The Reddit logo.

Reddit’s on a roll. The social media platform has just turned a profit for the first time in its 20-year history, and now boasts a record 97.2 million daily active users, marking a year-over-year increase of 47%. A few times during the quarter, the figure topped 100 million, which Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a letter to shareholders had been a “long-standing milestone” for the site.

The company, which went public in March, announced the news in its third-quarter earnings results on Tuesday.

Read more
Worried about the TikTok ban? This is how it might look on your phone
TikTok splash screen on an Android phone.

The US Supreme Court has decided to uphold a law that would see TikTok banned in the country on January 19. Now, the platform has issued an official statement, confirming that it will indeed shut down unless it gets some emergency relief from the outgoing president.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” said the company soon after the court’s verdict.
So, what does going dark mean?
So, far, there is no official statement on what exactly TikTok means by “going dark.” There is a lot of speculation out there on how exactly the app or website will look once TikTok shutters in the US.

Read more