LinkedIn Stories rolled out for members in the UAE

Professional networking portal LinkedIn has announced that it has introduced its LinkedIn Stories feature to users within the UAE.

The UAE has thus become the first country in the MENA region to trial this feature which allows members to share photos and videos of up to 20 seconds via their LinkedIn accounts.

The stories will be visible for 24 hours on the user’s profiles and will only be visible to first-degree connections.

The company added that LinkedIn Stories “makes it possible to offer a behind-the-scenes look at daily activities, to share sources of inspiration, to promote other entrepreneurs or professionals or to simply exchange knowledge and practical tips.”

“With the demand for visual content and mobile-first formats poised to grow exponentially, we believe this feature will provide a creative solution for members to show their professional side with a human touch. We are looking forward to more productive interactions and engagements among our 4-million strong community in the UAE,” said Lynn Chouman, editor at LinkedIn News.

“LinkedIn Stories will offer members an accessible and convenient way to share updates, industry news, and professional content with their connections. The new feature will also allow members to connect around the news and views that matter.”

Read: LinkedIn to offer free recruiting tools in the UAE for people with ‘critical skills’

LinkedIn added that it has observed an increase of more than 20 per cent in the number of co-workers having private conversations on the platform, and three-fold as much engagement on posts as a result of the work-from-home measures that were in place over the last few months,

It also recorded a 55 per cent increase in conversations between connections from March 2019 to March 2020.

With regards to consumption of content, 40 per cent of LinkedIn members indicated that they read the news more often today and 30 per cent checked social media platforms more frequently to stay informed.

In another regional first, last November, LinkedIn rolled out a new feature called Open for Business in Dubai that was geared towards helping freelancers and small businesses find opportunities on its platform.