# LinkedIn Removes Its High Voice Badges for Collaborative Articles

This can be a little sudden.

LinkedIn has introduced that it’s retiring its “High Voice” badges for contributing to Collaborative Articles, which, seemingly, has been one of many key motivators for folks including their insights to its AI-prompted content material.

Initially launched in March final yr, Collaborative Articles make the most of AI-generated prompts as a place to begin, then name on particular LinkedIn customers to share their experience on the chosen matter.

Contribute to sufficient of those posts, and also you get a shiny “High Voice” badge which is displayed alongside your identify within the app, including an additional stage of authority to your LinkedIn presence.

And as famous, that, seemingly, is what’s pushed tens of millions of customers to contribute their experience and insights to those articles, with Collaborative Articles seeing seen a 4x improve in weekly member contributions quarter-over-quarter, as of March this yr.

However now, LinkedIn’s taking these in-stream badges away.

As defined by LinkedIn (by way of Lindsey Gamble):

“Beginning October eighth, 2024, LinkedIn might be retiring the gold Neighborhood High Voice badge. This implies you received’t routinely earn the badge only for contributing to collaborative articles anymore. You probably have one, it’ll expire inside 60 days from whenever you acquired it.”

So why is LinkedIn eradicating this recognition?

It seems, enabling folks to current themselves as consultants by merely including to AI-generated posts isn’t actually that indicative of true experience.

“Because the launch, we’ve seen an increasing number of folks coming collectively to share their insights and study from one another by collaborative articles. With this development, we’re additionally listening to extra suggestions from our neighborhood. We’ve realized that it’s difficult to keep up the best high quality requirements for our Neighborhood High Voice badges, as they’re at present awarded routinely to contributors, and never manually awarded by our staff.”

In different phrases, LinkedIn customers have been complaining that “this man just isn’t an skilled”, and LinkedIn’s investigated and located that, sure, the system is seemingly giving credence to individuals who aren’t truly respected or expert or educated.

Which is at all times going to be a threat of AI-based benefit programs, whereas folks will compete for no matter web badges you set ahead, it doesn’t matter what they’re. Little doubt quite a lot of the High Voice consultants truly used AI to additionally generate their reply, and it appears that evidently LinkedIn has now acquired sufficient damaging suggestions to determine that this isn’t an awesome system for recognition.

Although that may even cut back curiosity in Collaborative Articles because of this.

As famous, Collaborative Articles have turn into one in every of LinkedIn’s prime content material codecs, and that, seemingly, could be as a result of customers want so as to add their ideas with the intention to get and keep their High Voice badge.

With out that badge as a carrot, I’m unsure anybody might be as eager to answer its AI prompts.

Although that’s what LinkedIn’s promoting:

“You is likely to be considering, why each contributing now? Right here’s the deal:

1. Present your experience – Sharing your ideas positions you as a educated voice in your area.

2. Increase your community – Contributing can open doorways to new connections and alternatives.

3. Assist others – Your insights can information fellow professionals by widespread office challenges.”

You possibly can learn this as LinkedIn being conscious that Collaborative Articles, as an idea, is about to tank, nevertheless it’s making an attempt to prop up enthusiasm to maintain it going.

But it surely most likely received’t. Those that have the badges might be aggravated that they’re shedding them, and people who don’t received’t see a lot purpose to contribute.

LinkedIn says that present High Voice badge holders will lose the marker inside 60 days from when it was awarded, with all badges to be gone from the app by December seventh, 2024.

So actually, that is most likely the tip of Collaborative Articles general, although there might nonetheless be some publicity worth within the format.

NOTE: LinkedIn has clarified that there is no such thing as a change to its High Voice (blue badge) program, which is awarded by invitation-only, by way of its editorial staff.