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Fittingly, John Kraski and I first met online. It was a couple years ago when he was living in Dubai. He now lives in LA. Recently he came to New York and we met at Soho Works.

John has a big following on LinkedIn and a talent for connecting with readers. He’s creative using the platform and a good barometer for where social media is headed.

These days John is bullish on video and an evangelist for the potential of videos on LinkedIn, especially since the platform launched a Reels-like feature driven by algorithms. Since there is a dearth of video content on Linkedin, he argues you have a high chance of being featured in streams people call up.

John already posts videos often, but he wants to ramp it up. His plan is to create a reality TV-style show to distribute via LinkedIn posts. He would be filmed walking around meeting people. It would give viewers a sense of the life of an influencer.

I visualize in a John reality show a bit like Curb Your Enthusiasm, but instead of Larry David wandering around LA there would be a rotating cast of people John knows and connects with, some in person and some via Zoom. I’ve already called dibs on a supporting role.

The bull case for videos on LinkedIn is that the platform has 1 billion users around the world, most are professionals, many are affluent. And yet, video accounts for a tiny percentage of the content on the platform.

We are already seeing an increase among business executives using videos to communicate. Mark Zuckerberg has used a Instagram-style hand-held video approach to explain several recent product launches. Jon Gray from Blackstone has taken to posting videos about everything from earnings to a trip to Sydney.

John sees it as fertile ground not just for short personal cameos, but longer-form programming that involves narrative and storytelling.

This makes sense to me. Some of the most popular business podcasts — such as the Lex Fridman Show — now not only include video but often run several hours.

John said the most successful creators on social media think of their feeds like programming. They worry about pace and variety. It’s not random. They publish three posts about work, followed by one personal story.

John said the two books that shaped his thinking the most about how to post on social media and develop an audience didn’t have anything to do with online content. One was The Last Great Ride by Brandon Tartikoff and the other was Top of the Rock by Warren Littlefield. Both men were programming executives at NBC Entertainment.

“It’s how I think everyone should think about their feeds,” he said. “Like a TV show.”

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