LinkedIn is testing a brief video feed, following in the footsteps of many other apps that are trying to be similar to TikTok.
TikTok, with over a billion users, has been causing confusion on social media apps for years. Instagram, YouTube and even Netflix have tried to emulate TikTok’s winning formula: The app’s vertical video feed and how it does so sparks trends and everyday conversations.
LinkedIn confirmed on TechCrunch that it is playing with the video message, which was first noticed by chief strategy officer Austin Null. In the LinkedIn post itself Null showed a brief demo channel that looks very similar to TikTok or Instagram Reels. The vertical channel, currently in beta, appears in the application in a fresh “Video” tab. Videos are similar to other LinkedIn posts that users can like, comment on, or repost.
It’s unclear when the feature will be made available to the broader LinkedIn community. Karina Hsu, founder and founder of startups, also released a demo on Xletter, “[it] feels like TikTok for work – currently a mix of inspirational podcast clips and current events.”
LinkedIn has grown your own influencer community in recent years, podcasters, career coaches and business owners have been regularly posting a variety of content on the app and gaining huge numbers of followers. The company told TechCrunch that users are looking for more videos primarily for educational and development purposes. TikTok, the place where more and more newborn people learn, is also home to a lot of career-related content. Now LinkedIn hopes to jump into this initiative by going down the vertical video route.
On the other hand, the platform has tried unsuccessfully in the past to emulate popular features like LinkedIn Stories – an aspect of Snapchat/Instagram that didn’t make much sense for a professional network.
