For now, the new feature is being tested only on U.S. profiles. A video version is expected on LinkedIn starting in the spring.
LinkedIn today has 800 million professional profiles using the social media platform. In an effort to make virtual networking even more appealing, LinkedIn is working on a Clubhouse alternative within a new event platform, according to TechCrunch. This will allow you to use virtual spaces to chat with other attendees. Initially, that will be audio only; video will follow later.
Audio events will launch in beta for U.S. users later this month. With this, LinkedIn wants to give more options for professional profiles to communicate with their network. The goal is to create more interactivity with an accessible platform.
New events module
LinkedIn has been working on an audio component within its social media platform for some time since Clubhouse broke ground in 2021. It even experimented with a paid-ticket system late last year with a limited number of users, but that option is not coming with the new audio events. Maybe at a later date, but LinkedIn won’t confirm that yet.
The new events module requires no additional software and includes all tools within the Web interface. The host can record sessions and moderate discussions. LinkedIn does keep the door open for integrations with external applications in the future when larger organizations with larger budgets want to set up events. Today, however, that is not happening, except for a few integrations here and there with Microsoft because it owns LinkedIn.
Clubhouse but with video
The audio component launches in beta later this month, but LinkedIn is also already considering a video component within its event platform. This feature is planned for Q2 2022 and should give creators within the social media platform additional flexibility. In turn, corporate accounts will be able to promote and bring their live events and webinars to LinkedIn as an additional channel.
There is a good chance there will be an integration with Microsoft Teams, but LinkedIn does not clarify that.
For now, it is unclear when the feature will come to Europe and for how long LinkedIn will keep its event platform free. As a tastemaker, it is interesting to get to know, but it goes without saying that a revenue model will eventually be attached.