For those of you who use LinkedIn Stories, I received this notice today on the Stories feature shutting down at the end of September.
“We just announced some big changes coming to LinkedIn Stories, and as an admin of a Page that has published Stories in the past, we wanted to make sure you were among the first to know. On Monday, September 30, 2021, we plan to suspend LinkedIn Stories in their current design and will be working on a new format that better supports the needs of our unique professional users.
Starting September 30, Page admins will no longer be able to upload Stories to LinkedIn, and members will not be able to view them. Learn more about the change here.
In the meantime, you’ll be able to use Stories through the end of September. We recommend that you pause any further creative development for LinkedIn Stories after that time. We apologize in advance if this causes any inconvenience, but know that we are excited to continue investing in this product in the future.”
Hmm. This is a bummer.
So LinkedIn is reworking its Stories feature and it will come back new and reimagined at some point. LinkedIn recently acquired how-to video app Jumprope as part of its expanded video focus, tying into the development of its new, on-platform creator tools.
Jumprope enables users to create step-by-step tutorials, using video and still image assets, with preset formats and overlays to help communicate each element.
LinkedIn’s director of product said in a post:
- You wish videos could live on your profile, not disappear. In developing Stories, we assumed people wouldn’t want informal videos attached to their profile, and that ephemerality would reduce barriers that people feel about posting. Turns out, you want to create lasting videos that tell your professional story in a more personal way and that showcase both your personality and expertise.
- You want more creative tools to make engaging videos. With Stories, members could use Stickers and “The Question of the Day” prompts to make videos more creative and engaging. But you want even more ways to spruce up those videos in a professional context, and you want to do so across LinkedIn.
I’m excited to see where LinkedIn goes with this but at the same time disappointed as I had a lot of engagement with Stories and loved getting its analytics.
LinkedIn acquired Jumprope in order to add in a new way to keep Stories on profiles, with a new section, similar to Instagram, where you can retain specific Stories permanently to better showcase your presentation skills and industry expertise.
Stay tuned for more news on the new LinkedIn Stories!