Video reigns supreme on social media like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. And now, video is becoming a bigger business for LinkedIn.
The Microsoft-owned social network for the working world has yet to go full TikTok. But with a big boost of usage — today it said that video uploads jumped by 36% compared to last year, while video creation on the platform itself grew 100% — LinkedIn is adding in more features to woo more video activity: a new full-screen vertical video display for all users (not just those on mobile), along with a number of new tools to boost viewer engagement.
The updates a week after Microsoft reported earnings that disclosed LinkedIn growing revenues by 9% in the last year (with premium subscriptions passing $2 billion in revenue).
The company now has over 1 billion users, so it’s a sure bet that in its drive to make more money, it will also be leaning into economies of scale around advertising and paid features.
Video will inevitably be a major component of that because of the stickiness and popularity of the medium, not just generally on social media but on LinkedIn in particular: last week it disclosed that video viewership was up 36% on last year.
The new vertical video feed for web pages is a natural development, given that LinkedIn had already been seeing strong engagement with that format on mobile, where it had first launched. As with the mobile experience, the new vertical web experience will allow people to select single videos, and then swipe or click from them to more videos in their feed.
This is not — yet — a full-screen player for video a la TikTok or Instagram. We first reported on that test in March 2024, and LinkedIn confirms this remains in test and feedback mode.
Meanwhile, it appears LinkedIn is going ahead and rolling out a number of features in aid of that future experience. For example, users will now see a new profile preview feature to see a creator’s profile without leaving the video, with a much more prominent follow button appearing in the interface.
LinkedIn is also adding more video content into its search results, with a new video carousel appearing alongside other links. (It will be facinating to see how many opt for these results rather than text-based ones.)
There are also some analytics being developed for creators, who will be able to track average watch times for their content. This is a small step but a signal that we’re likely to see more analytics features emerge in the coming months — especially if a full video feed makes its way to general release.
