It seems that some platforms have learned the hard way via time that Stories format may not be for everyone. Twitter got rid of their Fleets in early August, and LinkedIn is suttering their Stories feature by the end of September.
Announced via the network’s blog post from their Senior Director of Product, shutting it down came to users not wanting disappearing video.
While the feature was only unveiled as a test in February 2020, it didn’t see a wider rollout worldwide until October 2020. In that timespan, it was being tested in select markets with UAE being one of them.
Somehow, I got access to the feature in June but I wasn’t even located in any of their test markets (you can read my first hands-on time here).
I felt that LinkedIn could give their own spin on Stories, but we’re only the users as the platform holder has the final decision. It’s good to see that they’ve accepted what the users really wanted. Hopefully, the knowledge from this feature will translate towards their next set of features for video.
Don’t expect Snapchat and Instagram to get rid of their ephermal format; they came quite early and gained a significant footing with users worldwide.
If you still want to maximise your use of LinkedIn Stories, you have until the end of the month before their next app update removes the feature completely.