Will vertical videos change the LinkedIn experience?

LinkedIn is more buttoned up and carefully curated than other social networking platforms. While we visit most social media sites to entertain ourselves or connect with our loved ones, this primarily professional networking platform remains one. It’s a great place to learn about career successes or meet people in your industry, but engagement on the platform can often feel inauthentic.

On LinkedIn, your job is to look good. This means that users are often reluctant to experiment with different types of content.

Last year, I worked with an executive who occasionally shoots video content for a communications company. His usual content strategy is to post long-form videos explaining nuanced industry topics. I had suggested experimenting with short-form, vertical content, arguing that consumer preferences now lean toward authentic, user-generated content rather than polished advertising. It passed – but LinkedIn has now caught up with other social media platforms and added a vertical feed.

A scrolling video feed may change the way we present ourselves on LinkedIn, potentially adding some levity to a social media platform that has a reputation for being stuffy.

LinkedIn has been around a little longer than Facebook, but is one of the last major social media platforms to adopt the standard vertical video format. You probably think of TikTok first, but Snapchat pioneered the shift to a vertical viewing experience in 2011. TikTok continued to popularize the format after its initial launch in 2016, and Facebook followed suit with the addition of Stories in 2017.

We now consume most of our internet content on our cell phones. A Pew Research Center study found that the percentage of smartphone owners increased from 35% in 2011 to 90% in early 2024. Additionally, 15% of U.S. adults are “smartphone only” internet users, meaning they do not use a computer to access the web.

Social media platforms make the majority of their money from advertisers. For this reason, these platforms are designed to keep us on the app for as long as possible. Endless video feeds are part of what makes social media so addictive, and presenting the content vertically adds an immersive element that keeps us scrolling endlessly.

The creators who are already here

How will vertical videos change our behavior on LinkedIn?

A cursory scroll through my own LinkedIn video feed brought me comedy videos, a “salary hack” strategy, and a video with Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz’s “Get Low” playing in the background. Creatives have already started using the platform to poke fun at work culture.

Eliza VanCort, an author, speaker and consultant who regularly posts video content on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, agrees that LinkedIn will see a cultural shift, especially as vertical videos offer a content creation alternative to the long-form articles that the platform is for is known for.

“There’s no question that the culture will change – and for some people that change will be welcome,” says VanCort. “Because when you start posting this type of video content, you will naturally have a more relaxed mood…” [We’re] Entering the 24-hour news cycle on LinkedIn.”

Jonathan Greye, partner and chief branding officer at PersonalBrand.com, argues that while it’s still important to build a personal brand on LinkedIn, the new content format will allow users to rethink what that means.

“You have to get rid of your branding first before you start branding,” says Graye. “We just get so inundated with information and we kind of get lost in it. And during our process, this uncovering process, it’s so important to disengage and really build on your own personal truth and then [create] a brand around that.”

A new path to visibility

New thought leaders are likely to gain visibility in a saturated market by taking early advantage of the new video feed. The most important aspect of this shift will be understanding what content to publish.

VanCort recommends creating list-based content. “[This] applies more to LinkedIn than any other app,” she says. “People tolerate stories on Instagram and TikTok, but on LinkedIn people like ‘Five things you can do to change that’.” [or] to help your business.’”

Overall, if you’re promoting your business on LinkedIn, it’s a good idea to adapt to the new format – and perhaps loosen the buttons a bit.

Photo by Anatoliy Karlyuk/Shutterstock.com