John Nemo — April 12, 2017 The world’s largest online platform for professionals just added a new wrinkle that could skyrocket engagement on the site.
LinkedIn is banking big on becoming a “one stop shop” for professionals worldwide.
And, as such a highly visible, trusted social network for professionals, hundreds of millions of users worldwide turn to LinkedIn not only to to find a job, get online training or connect to potential clients, but also to get industry-specific news and insight.
And speaking of news, that’s where LinkedIn’s newest feature just helped the platform take a quantum leap forward.
LinkedIn Storylines = Curated, Customized News
LinkedIn recently announced a new feature called “Storylines” that curates and displays trending news stories and content, similar to what Facebook, Twitter and other sites do with breaking or important news stories each day.
On LinkedIn, that means you’ll have better access to the most pertinent daily news, important voices and influencers, all based on your professional industry and interests.
“For example, if you work in healthcare, you may see a storyline about a new exciting advancement in biometrics,” LinkedIn noted in a recent blog announcing the feature. “The storyline may include a perspective shared by a renowned healthcare expert, an article published by a top medical magazine and a post shared by someone you are connected to.”
The new feature sends a strong message of the commitment LinkedIn has made among its recent platform overhaul, including making its user-generated content a primary focus of the business model.
How LinkedIn Storylines Work
LinkedIn will use a combination of human editors and computer algorithms to detect important storylines, then collect articles and posts related to those storylines and put them into individual feeds.
A team of more than 20 human editors, led by LinkedIn’s Editor in Chief, Dan Roth, a former Fortune managing editor, will make decisions about what constitutes news.
Roth shared in a recent article on Recode that he and his team want Storylines to include diverse perspectives.
“No matter what you do in life, you need to know more than what’s just going on in your [world],” Roth said. “This is a must-have for professionals.”
How You Can Use LinkedIn Storylines
LinkedIn is going to rely on its everyday users to contribute their own unique spin and perspective to the big news of the day.
That means making sure you share your thoughts on the platform via status updates and articles surrounding breaking or trending Storylines, along with including the appropriate hashtags and keywords to alert LinkedIn’s editors and algorithm that you have something to add to the conversation.
If you format things correctly and generate some buzz around your own original content, you can try and ride that trending wave of the day and have LinkedIn (either its human editors or its automated system) pick up and feature your content alongside other trending posts and content around a certain Storyline in your niche or industry.
LinkedIn Storylines is expected to roll out to all U.S. users immediately, with other countries to follow suit in short order.
Here’s a video of how to use Storylines:
You can find Trending Storylines on your mobile home screen under the Trending tab. On desktop, it’s at the top right of the homepage.
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