Top trends on LinkedIn: Space tourism, ‘The Great Mismatch,’ Subway rebrand. Plus: The video style that members are loving

We all know by now how powerful short-form, vertical, full-screen videos can be. Flicking through TikTok can be a delightful distraction (though based on the the dinnertime arguments in my house, maybe too distracting?). What’s been interesting to me —?and important for LinkedIn creators — is watching this format extend into the workplace. Sometimes the best way to communicate with your colleagues and fans, as it turns out, is through a viral video.

My favorite example is the work of Brian Xu. Brian is a data science colleague who works on LinkedIn's Economic Graph team (I don’t usually highlight LinkedIn employees, but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity). He’s a stats guy through and through; he gets excited talking about residuals and variances. He should be a star of Excel, but video? That caught me by surprise.

Yet look at these videos:

Interesting, entertaining, engaging. Through his niche videos, Brian has built a following that extends beyond his industry and function. I asked Brian about his process because a) he is relatively new to the video space — he didn’t begin posting his videos on LinkedIn until just a couple months ago; and b) because he’s a teacher at heart —?he always has great advice, including for creators.?

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

How did you decide to start using video?

“I saw how TikTok creators were able to convey so much personality and storytelling into such short videos — great for my teeny-weeny attention span.”

Were you worried about them being 'professional'?

“Some of my videos are work related, I felt like LinkedIn members could resonate. Also I figured that I post too much publicly on the internet at this point so there's no hope for me hiding from any employers anyway.”

What advice would you give creators looking to get started?

“Consume video content first! Learn about how the platform works and what other creators have done. Then adapt to fit your style and content. Finally start posting and experimenting with the feedback you get from engagement and comments.”

Is there specific feedback you look at?

"I'm a data scientist so I'm compelled to make data-driven decisions ??. Comments (qualitative) and engagement metrics (quantitative) are really important for shaping my content. Do more of what people strongly like (and sometimes dislike) and see how the algorithm treats different styles of content."

New creators sometimes get worried about looks, lighting etc. How much thought do you put into the environment of your work?

“Environment doesn't have to be perfect just ‘good enough’ if it doesn't detract from the content. Sometimes timeliness is much more important than environment. This is why many creators have ring lights and audio equipment to try to maintain a baseline ‘good enough’ environment to film regardless of time of day or weather."

Your work-related content is pretty niche. Have you been surprised by the spread?

“I'm always kind of surprised that any of my content gets engagement because I start despising it after the 253rd time watching it during editing. Niche content often spreads very widely because folks that understand it can really relate and feel like they are part of an ‘inside joke’ — these have high reshares. Folks that don't understand it will engage because they see all the other folks who do understand. A sweet spot is content that seems niche but really isn't, like a p-value stats joke I recently made. It seems more technical and niche, but anyone who has ever taken stats will kind of understand.”

You can check out all of Brian’s work directly on his profile. I also wanted to call out some other creators who are worth following when it comes to short-form immersive video content:

• Alex Su (a former lawyer who found his niche in posting entertaining legal-related videos; excellent example of how to go niche)
• Alexandra Farmer (great example of the power of "behind the scenes" content — I can't get enough of this stuff in any field)
• Kevin Parry (particularly loved this one)
• Jay Beech (I’ve mentioned Jay before — here’s a favorite.)?
• Joel Lalgee (one here on the power of the unfollow button)
• Richard Orbe-Austin (tons of content on imposter syndrome and career advice)

One takeaway: mastering this language is increasingly essential to connecting to your audience. You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to start. There’s no better time to start experimenting than now.

Here are the topics generating attention over the last 7 days. Leverage these to spot audience demand and to start identifying trends. Then write your own post about one of these subjects; share an interesting video that riffs off the topic; or add commentary to a conversation. Anything with a ?? is likely to continue to trend for another 2 weeks.

?? Apologies: Conversations are gaining traction on the platform on why we shouldn’t lead an email with an apology.

?? Florida fallout: The tragic Surfside condo collapse is forcing residents around the country to think deeply about condo living.

?? "The Great Mismatch" Members are eager to share their thoughts on the current labor market and why so many jobs are unfilled right now, a hot button topic that is gaining traction in the U.S.?

?? Space tourism: Richard Branson completed Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed space test flight on Sunday.?

?? Subway’s rebrand: Following a recent viral story on tuna and years of declining sales, Subway announced what it calls its biggest menu change in history.

?? Wall Street wants its workers back: For junior bankers used to hustling through "marathon workweeks," Wall Street giants are saying remote work might have made things worse.

Each week, I’ll highlight creators who are initiating meaningful conversations on LinkedIn. These members use a variety of tools — from live video to polls — to nurture their audience. See if any of their actions work for you or engage with them directly by leaving a comment and sharing your insights.

1. Tom Goodwin’s posts are starting interesting leadership, marketing and career conversations on the platform. His post this week on reframing how we approach the concept of winning initiated some constructive debate from his audience.
2. David Lancefield gave some inspirational words and pieces of advice to his audience on what he wished he told himself before a major career transition. Having recently left his employer of 14 years, David delivered a personal element to the post. I love his last bullet: “Focus on momentum, experimenting with new practices, propositions, but remember it's not a race. Check your limiting assumptions.”
3. Juliana Chan nails it here with advice on entrepreneurship, looking back on the ups and downs of starting her business.
4. Quentin Michael Allums shares a lot about the creator economy; from his advice to other creators in his newsletter and various posts to his short-form videos on personal branding. His short post on monetization particularly caught my attention: “I don't want to be a creator that has to create in order to make money. That's a prison. I always want to be a creator that loves to create and gets to make money. That's freedom.”
5. Adrian Di Francesco posted a photo of a glimpse into his work-from-home life, and the post received over 4,400 comments and 176,000 reactions, with members weighing in on their own WFH entertaining stories and personal experiences on parenting while working remotely.?

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