No, unfortunately it is not currently possible to make a YouTube video autoplay on LinkedIn. LinkedIn does not support the auto-play feature for embedded YouTube videos. There are a few reasons for this:
LinkedIn’s Feed Algorithm
LinkedIn carefully controls what content appears in users’ feeds and how it is displayed. They want to provide the most relevant and useful content to each user, while also maintaining a good user experience. Auto-playing videos can be disruptive and annoying for users, especially in a professional social media setting like LinkedIn where people are often browsing quickly during short breaks at work. So LinkedIn’s algorithm is designed to avoid autoplaying external media like YouTube videos.
Focus on Written Content
LinkedIn’s platform is heavily focused on written content in the form of articles, posts, and written commentary. Their algorithm favors text-based content over multimedia when ranking and recommending posts. So if you want your posts to perform well, you’re better off creating written content rather than relying on external videos and media. Trying to autoplay YouTube videos goes against LinkedIn’s text-focused approach.
Avoiding Extra Data Usage
Allowing videos to autoplay would significantly increase data usage for LinkedIn’s mobile app users. To maintain a smooth app experience, especially for users who may have limited data plans, LinkedIn avoids autoplaying bandwidth-heavy multimedia unnecessarily. Users can still easily view videos, they just need to choose to play them manually rather than having them autoplay as they scroll through their feed.
Promoting Engagement
LinkedIn wants to promote thoughtful engagement on their platform, with users consciously choosing to watch and interact with videos that interest them. Autoplaying videos often leads to passive viewing without much real engagement. By not autoplaying YouTube videos, LinkedIn encourages users to actively select and watch videos they want to see, leading to higher quality engagement.
Technical Limitations
There are also some technical challenges to enabling YouTube video autoplay on the LinkedIn platform. LinkedIn would have to build out that functionality and integrate it with YouTube’s iframe API. Since YouTube already prevents autoplay by default on external sites like LinkedIn, additional work would be required to whitelist LinkedIn domains. Given the other factors, LinkedIn has not prioritized building out support for YouTube video autoplay functionality.
What Does Work?
While you can’t autoplay YouTube videos natively on LinkedIn, there are a couple options to create a better video experience:
- Upload a short preview clip or animated GIF to LinkedIn directly instead of embedding a full YouTube video.
- Include an eye-catching custom thumbnail image for your embedded YouTube videos.
- Write intriguing captions and surrounding content to encourage clicks and engagement with your video.
The Future
LinkedIn may eventually add support for YouTube autoplay, but it would likely be an optional setting that each user could configure themselves, rather than autoplaying videos for all users by default. As video consumption continues to grow on LinkedIn, they are exploring ways to improve the video experience while still maintaining their focus on text-based content and professional engagement. But for now, autoplaying YouTube videos is not an option natively on LinkedIn.
Conclusion
To summarize, LinkedIn does not currently allow YouTube videos to autoplay when embedded in posts or content. This is due to a combination of factors, including LinkedIn’s feed algorithm favoring text, avoiding extra mobile data usage, promoting engagement over passive viewing, and technical limitations. While autoplay is not supported, you can still have success with YouTube videos on LinkedIn by uploading preview clips, using eye-catching thumbnails, and writing strong surrounding content to encourage clicks. But the native autoplay feature is restricted at this time, so you’ll need to drive views through other means.
Some key takeaways:
- LinkedIn’s algorithm is designed to avoid autoplaying YouTube videos in users’ feeds.
- LinkedIn prioritizes text-based content over multimedia like videos.
- Autoplay videos can increase data usage on mobile and cause a poor experience.
- Manual video playback leads to better engagement vs autoplay.
- Technical constraints also make autoplay integration challenging.
- Preview clips, thumbnails, and compelling text can still boost YouTube video views.
- Native YouTube video autoplay is not supported on LinkedIn currently.
| Pros of Autoplay on LinkedIn | Cons of Autoplay on LinkedIn |
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Other FAQs
Can you autoplay a video uploaded to LinkedIn?
No, videos uploaded directly to LinkedIn cannot autoplay either. You still need viewers to manually click play on native LinkedIn videos. The same concerns around passive viewing and data usage apply.
What about on a LinkedIn Company Page?
Company Pages have slightly more multimedia options than personal profiles, but still do not support autoplay for YouTube or other embedded videos. Company Pages are also focused on written content and engagement over passive video playback.
Is there a workaround to autoplay YouTube on LinkedIn?
There’s no reliable workaround that will consistently allow YouTube video autoplay on LinkedIn. Some browser extensions claim to enable autoplay but are not effective on LinkedIn due to their restrictions. The only option is to encourage manual playback through compelling thumbnail images, titles, descriptions, and surrounding written content.
Can you autoplay videos on LinkedIn Campaign Manager ads?
No, LinkedIn Campaign Manager ads also do not allow video autoplay, to ensure a consistent experience across their platform. For Sponsored Content and Sponsored InMail ads, viewers still have to initiate video playback manually.
Will LinkedIn ever support YouTube video autoplay?
Possibly in the future, but likely not by default. LinkedIn may build settings to allow users or Page owners to opt in to autoplay if they want. But overall, their focus remains on professional text-based content, so autoplay is not a high priority for their platform. Native autoplay support is unlikely in the near term.
Best Practices for Video Marketing on LinkedIn
Here are some top tips for effectively using video content on LinkedIn without autoplay:
- Upload short 15-30 second preview clips to LinkedIn to give a taste of your YouTube video.
- Create custom, eye-catching thumbnails that make viewers want to click play.
- Write strong headlines and descriptions for your videos to build intrigue.
- Embed videos in the middle or end of long text posts to encourage engagement.
- Promote your best performing YouTube videos through LinkedIn’s algorithm with native uploads.
- Test different video formats like interviews, demos, employee features, etc.
- Add interactive elements like quizzes or CTAs to drive video clicks.
- Analyze video viewing data to optimize future video content.
Key Takeaways
The key points to remember are:
- YouTube video autoplay is not natively supported on LinkedIn currently.
- LinkedIn’s focus is on text content and engagement over passive video viewing.
- Technical constraints and data usage concerns also prevent autoplay.
- Alternative tactics like preview clips and compelling posts can boost video views.
- Native YouTube video autoplay may come in the future but isn’t a priority now.
- For LinkedIn video success, focus on quality over autoplay quantity.
So in summary, while you cannot autoplay YouTube videos on LinkedIn at this time, by following best practices you can still capture audience attention and drive video engagement through this important professional platform.
