by Kathy Bernard
To discourage you from running posts that link elsewhere (like to a news site, industry newsletter articles, YouTube video, blog, or website), posts containing links to outside sites now appear smaller on the LinkedIn homepage newsfeed. Why? LinkedIn wants you to pay to promote your posts or for you to put your entire content into your LinkedIn post rather than driving readers away from the platform.
This change may hurt readership of small-business people’s posts who don’t have the time or talent to create their own content, but who like to share news, quotes, videos, or other content from outside sources – LinkedIn members may not be as interested in your less-prominent posts. The change may also harm original content providers like news agencies because linking to external content was a way to properly cite and support these sources. Ultimately, this short-sighted, punitive approach will hurt LinkedIn, as its members may stop reading their homepage news feed as regularly and businesses take their content elsewhere to reach their audiences.
To avoid post shrinkage, edit your post an hour or two after publication (after the post has garnered initial audience engagement). Delete the preview link and add your own, larger image. Doing this works for now, but LinkedIn may take away that option later.
Kathy Bernard (kathy@wiseru.com), CEO of WiserU.com, is a St. Louis-based LinkedIn consultant/trainer who equips businesses to maximize LinkedIn for sales, marketing, or fundraising.