Here’s some updated info for how LinkedIn shows post previews in late 2024.
Posts are often too long to be shown in full, so LinkedIn saves space in the feed by showing a preview of the content, with a “…more” link that leads to the full post when clicked.
Knowing where this link appears can be useful when it comes to optimising your posts for the best chances of engagement.
Write something enticing just as the preview ends and … you get the point.
Get to the point.
Make your point clear in the first 3 lines. If you’re placing an ad, do it in the first 2 lines.
The position of the “…more” link (also referred to as “see more”) has changed a couple of times over the years. This is the current state of play as of September 2024.
Organic posts have a 3-line preview.
There used to be a difference between text-only posts and other post types, but this has now been standardised so all organic posts are treated the same way.
Sponsored posts (aka ads) have a 2-line preview.
It’s odd that paying to sponsor a post means that viewers see a shorter preview than when a post is made for free (organically). I’ve given up trying to work out LinkedIn’s logic.
Cutoff points are the same on desktop and mobile – sort of.
The number of lines in the preview is the same on both desktop and mobile BUT there will be fewer characters shown on mobile because there’s less space.
Exactly how much space is impossible to say for certain, as the visible area depends on your browser/device magnification.
On desktop, an organic post will show only a 2-line preview if line 3 is blank. If line 2 is blank and line 3 isn’t, the full 3-line preview is shown.
Reposts and referred content have the same breakpoints.
Reposts that are shared “with thoughts” have no effect on the line length of the preview: it’s still a 3-line preview for such organic content.
The “viral header” that sometimes appears above posts to justify why those posts are in your feed (e.g. “Gus and Jeremy commented on this”) also makes no difference to the line length of the preview.
I’ve tested the above with as many post types (text-only, image, video, documents, polls, etc.) as I could find on desktop and mobile, including permutations where posts were reposted or appeared with a viral header.
If you see any evidence to suggest that these breakpoints have changed, please DM me on LinkedIn to let me know! Thanks in advance.
