by Jim Lundy
LinkedIn announced the beta of its live video feature, LinkedIn Live, which will allow users to live broadcast events or to simply share videos. This blog examines this move—which most consider a late move.
Why Video Support to LinkedIn?
The reason LinkedIn added video is that it has twice the open rate for text posts and it is certainly the number one way to drive ad opens, too. The era of text-only content is winding down—so the reasons for adding video make sense. The question, though, is how LinkedIn will execute this launch.
Copying Facebook and Twitter
Facebook and Twitter both support sharing and broadcasting of video. To me, LinkedIn’s move is a copy; it feels like a consumer move in a social network that is all about business users. LinkedIn clearly wants to add value to its platform and there is no doubt that these videos will be tied to products and offers, but at what cost?
Already today, LinkedIn Sales Navigator has become a spam service. I get blasted nearly everyday by startups asking to do business with Aragon. If LinkedIn Live is used for ads, they risk losing more users.
Lead, Don’t Follow
LinkedIn could have done much better than copying consumer social media platforms. For example, as part of LinkedIn Learning, they could offer live virtual broadcasts of training events.
LinkedIn Live Powered by Microsoft Azure
Many know that the Microsoft Azure Cloud is optimized for video—and this means that LinkedIn Live has a strong technical backend. So, it is clear that scalability will not be a problem—in fact, that is probably why business broadcasts could be great for LinkedIn versus just user-generated broadcasts.
Video Is the Future of Content and the Future of Research
There is no doubt that video is the future. People remember video content more than content through static channels—and can often recall 80% of the videos they have seen in the last 30 days. In fact, that is the reason Aragon is leading in the race to visual research. We will be monitoring the launch of LinkedIn Live to see how the service is actually rolled out.
Editor’s Note: Aragon is the only research firm to offer visual research—find out more here.