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LinkedIn has a new initiative to tackle short-form video platforms, like TikTok. This comes as more content-focused apps try implementing their version of the Chinese company’s video methods.
The video-sharing app has ballooned in popularity since it rebranded from Musical.ly to TikTok. It became especially popular during the worldwide lockdown in 2020, with different trends taking over each month.
LinkedIn, however, is the dominant force in the job market. The social network incorporates job searching, business networking, and content creation under one roof. It was bought by Microsoft in 2016, and can now be accessed through a Windows 11 shortcut by pressing Ctrl+Win+Alt+Shift+L.
Speaking with a range of people, Business Insider has found that interaction on the platform has boomed since the company pushed for video. One example found a text post that received 10,000 impressions from 15,000 followers. Switching over to video, this exploded to 2 million.
LinkedIn itself has confirmed that video content is viewed 1.4 times more than regular text or link-based posts. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, said in the October earnings call that LinkedIn’s viewership was up “36% year-over-year”.
Short form video is coming for LinkedIn too
Speaking with Business Insider, community manager Jamé Jackson said that they want to make LinkedIn “a daily habit for people”, as well as show that it is “much more than just a platform for job searching.”
Meta and Google have also taken notice of TikTok’s success. The scrolling, addictive nature of the app with hundreds of hours of short content has taken hold of Instagram and YouTube. In 2020, Instagram launched Reels, and YouTube Shorts was made live.
TikTok is currently in an embittered battle with the US government. It looks likely that owner Bytedance will have to sell it off to a US company, or risk being banned from the country.
However, as with LinkedIn’s huge boom in content views, TikTok creators are warning that their businesses could be at risk in the event of a ban. Microsoft, Google, and Meta will be using this potential ban as an in to replace the app.
