This month, LinkedIn, the professional social network has announced they will be trialling and testing its very own version of Snapchat and Instagram’s “Stories” feature. Acquired in 2016 by Microsoft, the platform has created the short video clips as a new feature targeting college students called Student Voices.
Here’s what you need to know about LinkedIn’s new feature:
 

Why?

As LinkedIn is known as a business platform, it’s easy to question why they would decide to adopt a feature that has been known to do well on social and photo sharing applications. The reason behind the change is that the platform is endeavouring to find a solution to appeal to approximately 46 million college/university students and new graduates that are currently present on their network. By providing a young demographic with tools they’re familiar with, there is hope that they will use the platform on a more regular basis. The Student Voices feature is also seen to have potential to be used as another ad platform for LinkedIn.
 

 

How?

The new feature is set up where students will be able to see a section at the top of their homepage feed which will contain a video collection from their chosen school as well as universities nearby in surrounding areas. A video uploaded via this new feature will be available on the school’s collection for the first seven days. After this period, the video will then remain available only on the individual’s personal profile.
 

 

So What?

Unlike platforms such as Snapchat or Instagram, the LinkedIn videos don’t vanish after a short period of time. Having these videos on their personal profile could be used to benefit the student’s when looking for employment, as potential employers have access to these videos on their profiles. During the implementation process however, there may be confusion with the purpose of these stories as they are very similar to those on other platforms where silly or social videos are posted.
While LinkedIn is known to be a professional and simple to use platform, it will be interesting to see this feature take off. Student Voices has the potential to create a positive outlet to students actively using the network and will open the door to new strategies to set them apart from the crowd when looking for employment.
We’re eager to see how far Student Voices goes. If you would like to learn more about the new feature or the LinkedIn platform, contact one of our industry specialists here at Space Digital today on 07 3724 0469.