Social Throwback 2021: 365 Days of working, learning & creating from home on LinkedIn

Over the last 12 months, LinkedIn has added various tools and features to the platform, making it fit for the needs of creators and professionals working from home. Here's a quick look.

The year was rough for working professionals everywhere. They dealt with pay cuts, job losses, personal trauma, and much more. With so many struggling souls looking at better avenues to network and build communities, LinkedIn had to step up their game in 2021. They created tools and features to help people be vulnerable on the platform, holding space to express themselves better. It included pushing for more audio-visual content and acknowledging the various reasons people say yes to employment gaps in their careers. Creating avenues for people to upskill was also a major agenda for LinkedIn this year.

Launching LinkedIn Learning Hub

Created to cater to organisations that need a learning solution to upgrade and build skills, LinkedIn Learning Hub brings together the learning resources on the platform — and more. The hub draws data and insights from LinkedIn's Skill Graph to empower users with skill development insights, personalised content, and community-based learning. Considering the wave of people who took online courses to upskill themselves while working from home, this was a move in the right direction for LinkedIn.

LinkedIn lets go of Stories

LinkedIn had launched Stories to enable users to share their everyday experiences in their professional circles — casually, authentically. However, in the second half of 2021, they decided to discard the feature. In its place, a new video experience will be launched to allow users to be more conversational on the platform. It comes from the insight that people love to share videos on LinkedIn and want more creative tools to make them more interactive and engaging for their professional connections. 

Addressing Employment Gap Stigma

This year, LinkedIn added a few new job title options to address the stigma around employment gaps. The titles included stay-at-home dad, stay-at-home mom, and stay-at-home parent. This way, LinkedIn acknowledged that the pandemic had swiftly changed employment opportunities; and impacted people's work lives. Moving forward, LinkedIn aims to add options like parental leave, family care and sabbatical. The professional job network hopes to create a space where people can freely express their careers paths and choices without any fear of judgement.

Turning Creator Mode On

Launched globally, Creator Mode aims to enable LinkedIn users to prominently display their content and engage with their community to garner more visibility on the platform. With the creator mode, the 'Connect' button gets replaced with 'Follow' and, the 'Featured' and 'Activity' sections get a prominent display at the top of the user's profile. LinkedIn hopes to improve the way users display creator assets and stay visible on the platform. It hopes to make people feel seen and heard authentically, within and beyond their growing communities.

Video-First Profiles

In 2021, LinkedIn had added some new features to the platform, making it easier for users to create expression and inclusive profiles. These included Video Cover Story, enabling users to personalise their introductions to engage with audiences and reach more recruiters. For freelancers, it's a tool to attract new clients and talk about their services. It's LinkedIn's way of pushing for audio-visual content creation on the platform.

LinkedIn 2021

Here’s a quick look at the key updates by LinkedIn this year:

• LinkedIn enables Swipe Up links for Stories
• Marketing Labs, a free learning centre, is launched
• Conversation Controls are introduced
• Users are prompted to share demographic information
• Marketplaces to be developed for connecting freelancers & recruiters
• New features launched for Pages: My Company Tab, Product Pages, Stories
• Professional courses launched for women in B2B marketing
• Creator Mode is introduced to help follower base
• Customising profiles is made easier with new features
• New job titles are added to address employment gaps
• Skills Path is launched for skill-based hiring processes
• New marketing features are launched for users
• LinkedIn Learning Hub is launched in an effort to upgrade people’s skills
• LinkedIn formally joins EU Commission’s Code of Conduct on countering hate speech
• Jumprop, a how-to video app is acquired by LinkedIn
• Microsoft-powered native video meetings are launched
• Customers testimonials can be displayed on LinkedIn Profile
• Stories are discarded
• Members are enabled to host lives on LinkedIn Learning
• Articles introduced for Pages
• LinkedIn introduces features to automate event planning