The Power of Hackday: Video Sharing on LinkedIn

I'm fortunate.  I work with incredibly intelligent and well-informed people. Almost every morning, my cup of coffee is accompanied by an article that one of my colleagues (or former colleagues) has shared on LinkedIn.  The articles are not shared to simply entertain or pass time, but to keep everyone in the industry up-to-date, and get people thinking about real-world opportunities.

A few months ago, I began noticing how many video links appeared on my LinkedIn homepage: TED talks, demos, tips and tricks -- things most effectively conveyed via video. I decided to hack a solution.

Each month, LinkedIn sets aside a day for employees to experiment with and build technology that is not formally slated for development.  Sometimes Hackdays have themes, but ultimately everyone is free to build anything they deem valuable.  Some people work by themselves, some form teams. The technology that emerges from Hackdays can range from useful and pragmatic to awe inspiring, and even controversial.  The hacks are presented in front of a panel of judges and, in some cases, a winning hack is integrated into LinkedIn Labs or LinkedIn.com.

I'm pleased to announce that my October Hackday project is now live on the site.  Starting today, YouTube video posts shared through LinkedIn are playable directly from within the homepage and member feeds.  I hope you enjoy my hack, and find it useful in sharing with your professional network.

Here's a Happy Holidays video card we created, so you could share on LinkedIn.

Happy Holidays from all of us at LinkedIn!