After the Stories feature became present in almost all social networks - except Twitter - Microsoft recently launched LinkedIn Stories in the United States, Canada, and a limited number of other countries.
The Stories feature might be surprising from Linkedin, since this social network is a highly professional platform and includes a large number of companies, employees, and job seekers, which makes such kind of posts look a bit weird. But Microsoft may have wanted to compensate for its loss in the Tik Tok deal by adding some social features to its network.
In the advertisement video for the new feature showcasing the way to share a Linkedin Story, Kiran Prasad, vice president of products at LinkedIn, appears in it speaking to the audience in a simple and professional way, away from loud music and other inappropriate things on other networks such as TikTok.
As Linkedin communication team wrote, LinkedIn Stories enable members and organizations to share images and short videos of their everyday professional moments.
Sharing Stories is an easy way to share your experiences and insights, and to build meaningful relationships with your professional community. LinkedIn shares Stories that you post for 24 hours.
What Is Different In Linkedin Stories?
Currently, it's still in the testing phase. Meanwhile, Linkedin revealed that its Stories behave like all Stories on other social platforms:
Users can see stories posted by themselves, their connections, or people and LinkedIn Pages that they follow.
LinkedIn only shares a Story’s viewer list with the creator of the Story.
When viewing a Story, you can either send a message or an emoji to the creator if you’re a first-degree connection. This is a great way to start a conversation.
You can use LinkedIn Messaging to share a profile’s Story with one or more of your connections.
Users can report a Story that they found offensive, inappropriate, or unsafe. Linkedin will then review the report and take appropriate action.
However, they've added a new unique feature that enables you to change how you appear in the viewers' list of stories' creators from your settings, by managing the Story viewing options under Visibility.
You can choose to appear as:
Your name and headline
Private profile characteristics (title and most recent education, institution or company, if applicable)
Private mode (anonymous)
Content Quality
It seems LinkedIn stories will revolve around work and businesses in general, as some users share their views on human resource management, and others may talk about the virtual work environment imposed on us by the Corona pandemic, and discuss some thorny matters such as harassment in the workplace, employee rights, and others.
These stories may contribute to revitalizing the social aspect of LinkedIn, which is almost a place for job postings and applications only.