Prepare for the #motivational doom scroll — LinkedIn is trialing TikTok-style short videos
Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
- LinkedIn is experimenting with presenting video posts in a short-form, infinite-scrolling format.
- The company confirmed the trial to TechCrunch on Wednesday.
- These videos appear to be taken from existing posts on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is testing a new short-form video feature in the same vein as YouTube Shorts and TikTok, making it one of the latest platforms to invest in infinite scrolling.
The Microsoft-owned company confirmed the experiment to TechCrunch on Wednesday, as the outlet reported spotting a LinkedIn user who posted about the videos.
"I told y'all once LinkedIn as a product catches up to the other platforms it's over," marketing professional Austin Hull wrote.
Hull posted a screen recording of the LinkedIn app on his phone, which showed him navigating to a "video" tab and then scrolling through four short clips.
One was of an entrepreneur discussing lessons learned from a TV appearance, and another featured a product engineer discussing her career.
A woman in the third video said: "Welcome back to another episode of 'What I do for work.'"
The last clip showed a startup founder giving advice on LinkedIn.
While shot in the 9:16 aspect ratio used by creators for mobile scrolling content, these posts don't appear to be specifically created for the short-form feature.
The ones featured in Hull's video come from normal LinkedIn posts, which have a caption above the clip, likely meaning LinkedIn is just presenting the same posts differently.
Screenshot/LinkedIn/Sonny Caberwal
If the company rolls out this feature more widely, it would have to catch up with YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and essentially every popular social media platform in the pivot toward short-form video content.
The format is widely considered a staple for younger tech users, and online video is even recognized as a "nearly universal part of teens' and tweens' media diet" by Sesame Street's producers.
Infinite scrolling hasn't always been well-received. US officials are concerned that it's getting people more addicted to social media, which could harm mental health.
In its October lawsuit against Meta over mental health concerns for children, the New Hampshire Attorney General's office described infinite scrolling as "designed to defeat children's attempts to self-regulate and disengage" with social platforms.
"Users are spoon-fed highly personalized content designed to keep them hooked," the lawsuit said. "As a result, users often find themselves unwittingly and infinitely scrolling."
LinkedIn's press team did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.