Gone are the times when sharing a story could only happen on Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook.

In a somewhat unexpected move, LinkedIn is now considering permanently adding the feature into its platform.

Looking to inject dashes of authenticity, creativity, fun and light-hearted, conversational enjoyment into its already multi-faceted platform, LinkedIn recently announced it had been now testing stories internally, and within the coming months, would test it with its members.

When we think about stories, we conjure images of silly filters, animated gifs, music, and more in our minds, so it’s virtually an inclusion we’d ever expect LinkedIn to adopt. In fact, LinkedIn and Stories aren’t two words you almost certainly thought you’d ever heard within the same sentence.

For now, we don’t understand how stories on LinkedIn will look, what features they’ll include, or when it’ll be extended.

While it should seem to be somewhat unoriginal or a replica of other platforms, the move reflects the way many social media users are communicating and connecting, so naturally, it had been only a matter of your time before LinkedIn leaned into this trend.

As LinkedIn Senior Director of Product Management Pete Davies put it,

“There are more conversations going down within the LinkedIn feed than ever before, with a 25% year-over-year increase in engagement.”

Stories first appeared on Snapchat way back in 2013 (yes, that’s a full seven years ago). Instagram then jumped on the story bandwagon, followed by Facebook. This ‘copying’ drew criticism, but over time many users across these platforms have taken advantage of the feature.

So what would stories seem like during a professional context? What reasonable avenues and opportunities can this open?

“They [stories] spread for an honest reason: they provide a lightweight, fun thanks to sharing an update without it having to be perfect or attached to your profile forever,” Pete says.

But can this exist during a professional climate?

Consider how you interact with colleagues within the break room. It could involve some light-hearted, quick, and harmless casual banter or chat about the weekend.

“Sometimes we wish the simplest way to simply make a connection, have amusing with our colleagues and march on,” Pete says.

The move signals LinkedIn’s freshest approach to amping up its ‘cool’ vibes to get more engagement within the platform, especially from its younger users.

“The sequencing of the stories format is great for sharing key moments from work events, the full-screen narrative style makes it easy to share tips and tricks that help us work smarter, and therefore the way Stories disclose new messaging threads makes it easier for somebody to mention, “and by the way… I noticed you recognize Linda, could you introduce me?” Pete says.

What does one think? Will you share stories on LinkedIn? What quiet content will you share? is that this a feature you’ll use, or does one think it’s a waste of your time and will be kept to Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat?

LinkedIn is now testing stories internally, and within the coming months, will test it with its members. No official date has been announced.