LinkedIn Now Factors Dwell Time Into Content Distribution Algorithm

LinkedIn has this week published an overview of its new ‘dwell time’ metric, which is now being factored into its feed algorithm, which defines what each user sees on the platform.

Dwell time, as it sounds, calculates how long a LinkedIn user spends looking at an update or link. At a high level, each update viewed on the feed generates two types of dwell time.

• First, there is dwell time “on the feed,” which starts measuring when at least half of a feed update is visible as a member scrolls through their feed.
• Second, there is dwell time “after the click,” which is the time spent on content after clicking on an update in the feed.

LinkedIn says that it conducted a range of tests to determine if there was a definitive point at which dwell time was indicative of user interest. LinkedIn’s engineers found that there was, and interestingly, that it was fairly universal across all forms of LinkedIn updates.