Bringing Storylines to Your Feed

Alexandre Patry
9 min readintermediate
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Overview

The article discusses the introduction of Trending Storylines on LinkedIn, a feature designed to help users discover and engage with relevant news and ideas in a personalized manner. It highlights the challenges of curating content in a noisy information environment and outlines the hybrid human-machine approach used to create and maintain these storylines.

What You'll Learn

1

How to leverage a hybrid approach for content curation in a professional environment

2

Why maintaining content relevance is crucial for user engagement

3

How to utilize existing infrastructure for new product development at scale

Key Questions Answered

What is the purpose of Trending Storylines on LinkedIn?
Trending Storylines aim to help LinkedIn members discover and discuss relevant news and diverse perspectives by curating content in a personalized manner. This feature addresses the challenge of delivering high-quality information in a saturated environment.
How does LinkedIn maintain the relevance of Trending Storylines?
LinkedIn maintains the relevance of Trending Storylines through a hybrid approach that combines human editorial curation with algorithmic updates. This ensures that storylines are not only curated with high-quality content but also kept up-to-date automatically as new information emerges.
What challenges does LinkedIn face in content curation?
LinkedIn faces challenges such as the need to curate high-quality storylines while managing the volume of information generated by its 467 million members. Balancing human effort and algorithmic efficiency is crucial to address these challenges effectively.
What attributes define a good storyline in LinkedIn's context?
A good storyline is defined by four attributes: relevance to the storyline, freshness of the content, professionalism suitable for a workplace, and personalization for the user. These factors help ensure that the content delivered meets the needs of LinkedIn's professional audience.

Key Statistics & Figures

Number of LinkedIn members
467 million
This number reflects the scale at which LinkedIn operates and the challenge of delivering relevant content to a large user base.

Technologies & Tools

Database
Espresso
Used to store storyline metadata and facilitate real-time updates.
Data Propagation
Databus
Used to propagate tags from the Espresso store to different search indices.

Key Actionable Insights

1
Implement a hybrid content curation strategy that combines human expertise with algorithmic efficiency to enhance user engagement.
This approach allows for high-quality content delivery while adapting to user reactions in real-time, making it particularly effective in information-saturated environments.
2
Focus on maintaining the freshness of content in your applications to keep users engaged.
Regularly updating content based on user interactions ensures that the information remains relevant and valuable, which is essential for user retention.
3
Utilize existing infrastructure creatively to develop new features without starting from scratch.
Leveraging established systems can accelerate product development and reduce the complexity of integrating new functionalities.

Common Pitfalls

1
Failing to keep content up-to-date can lead to user disengagement.
In a fast-paced information environment, stale content can quickly lose relevance, making it crucial to implement systems that allow for real-time updates.

Related Concepts

Content Curation Strategies
Personalization In User Experiences
Machine Learning Applications In Content Delivery