Cornelia Mrose

Introducing Stories to LinkedIn: Foundational research

March-April 2019

Research Questions

Outcome Goals

Process

research findings

impact

Foundational research: LinkedIn users and Instagram Stories

INSTAGRAM STORIES What do LinkedIn users with Instagram accounts think about Stories?

• Which LinkedIn users create Stories and/or watch Stories?

  • If they create Stories, which content do they consider appropriate for Instagram Stories?

  • If they watch Stories, which Stories are they interested in?

• What do they value about Instagram Stories, if anything?

• What do they dislike about Instagram Stories, if anything?

INSTAGRAM STORIES: What do LinkedIn users who do not know about Instagram Stories think about the Stories concept?

• When would they create or watch Stories, if at all?

Foundational research: LinkedIn users and the concept of LinkedIn Stories

LINKEDIN STORIES: What do LinkedIn users with Instagram accounts think about introducing Stories to LinkedIn?

• What will different users from distinct user segments think about Stories on LinkedIn?

• Will these users embrace Stories on LinkedIn or will they feel alienated by seeing Stories on LinkedIN?

• How will they use Stories on LinkedIn?

  • Which content are they interested in creating?

  • How do they think will this content differ from Instagram Stories? Why?

  • Which use cases do they see for Stories on LinkedIn?

• How useful, if at all, will LinkedIn Stories be for these LinkedIn users?

LINKEDIN STORIES: What do LinkedIn users who are not familiar with Instagram Stories think about introducing Stories to LinkedIn?

• What will different users from distinct user segments think about Stories on LinkedIn?

• Will these users embrace Stories on LinkedIn or will they feel alienated by seeing Stories on LinkedIn? Why?

• Do they have an idea of how they would use Stories on LinkedIn, if at all?

• Which use cases do they see for Stories on LinkedIn?

• How useful, if at all, do these users think LinkedIn Stories might be for them??

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Study Method

• Semi-structured, in-depth, in person interviews

  • 45 min long 1:1 moderated interviews with 20 LinkedIn users

  • Location: Houston, TX

Target Audience / Participant Criteria

• 4 cohorts based on LinkedIn user profiles

  • 5 users per cohort, 20 users in total

• About half of users create and watch Instagram Stories

• A subset of users does not have an Instagram account and does not know much, if anything, about Stories

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Analysis

• Analyzed the interview data:

  • Transcribed all interviews

  • Organized all transcribed data by category

  • Read and re-read the data (and re-read again)

  • Formulated findings

Synthesis

• Synthesized the data:

  • Led an Affinity Diagramming workshop with the entire product team

  • Coded the data

  • Summarized interview data by category

  • Synthesized findings into insights

  • Facilitated an ‘Insights to Recommendations’ workshop with product managers and product designers

  • Built a Powerpoint presentation based on insights & recommendations and presented it to the entire design team in April 2019

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Based on the gained research insights, the product team continued iterating on the LinkedIn Stories concept and design.

Stories were launched in the US in the summer of 2020 about a year after I finished the foundational research and the concept testing.

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