LinkedIn native video calling

A new direct message feature now lets you schedule or immediately join a 1-to-1 video chat direct inside LinkedIn, on desktop or mobile.

You don't need to download any software for this to work, and you can see what the screens look like in the video demo below.

I think this is an exciting development and means that fruitful text chats can move frictionlessly to video if that feels right to both parties.

Native video calling inside LinkedIn DMs is still rolling out so you might not yet have the ability to start your own call. However, you should be able to join a call that someone else with the ability has invited you to.

LinkedIn say that this video service will be enhanced with the ability to engage in live text chat and set virtual backgrounds.

It will be interesting to see whether the calls can work for groups instead of 1-to-1s – not sure about that yet.