LinkedIn has experimented with several ‘of-the-time’ features successfully executed on other platforms before, and it may soon do it again as it tests short-form video on the social media site.
McKinney Strategy Director and chief creator officer at Divergent Media, Austin Null first spotted the new short-form video feature on the platform a day ago that mimics the well-received TikTok format.
Null covers some of the details of the newly tested format in his subsequent comment replies that includes a similar vertical video aspect ratio where users can swipe to view additional videos with support for comments and share options.
According to Null, the video feeds will be nestled under a new videos tab to help compartmentalize the experience and presumably differentiate it from the current video experience LinkedIn already supports.
As of now, it appears LinkedIn is testing its new feature in an extremely limited capacity with only a handful of users reporting access to as well as labeling the platform as Beta for now.
LinkedIn has tried to expand its user base by adding tangentially related social media experiences before like its brief stint with ephemral videos ala Snapchat. LinkedIn ultimately ended up scrapping its Snapchat alternative experience once users complained about both relevance and functionality of the feature.
While it’s possible LinkedIn ends up scrapping this foray into alternate video experiences, it’s more likely to be a better hit than disappearing video. The short-form video format plays well into the platforms content algorithms, professionally minded marketing interns and executives as well as a growing base of content creators, video game devs, artists and more who are looking for ways to highlight their talents in pursuit of their next gig.
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of reception a large roll out of the tested feature will recieve as the user base continues to shift to embrace the same content creators from TikTok, YouTube Reels, and X.
