Dan Roth is the Editor-in-Chief and VP of Content at LinkedIn. At Cannes Lions, Washington Post Creator President Sara Goo sat down with Roth to talk about the company’s latest announcements to enable brands and B2B creators to connect on the platform and monetize content; the role AI is playing in the job market; and how brands can best show up authentically on the platform.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Sara Goo: You just made some news rolling out some new way for creators to make money on the platform and brands to connect with them. Tell me more about it.
Dan Roth: We’ve seen the number of creators on LinkedIn double between 2021 and 2025. There has been this kind of change in how professionals talk on LinkedIn and where they go to get their information. Increasingly, people are building these creator businesses in the world and on LinkedIn and we’re seeing professionals turn to them in almost every niche. Unlike previous generations of creators, these creators are now building small businesses. They are mostly solopreneurs but then growing to become larger companies and they need to monetize what they’re doing. That is, they're not just counting on sponsor deals. In fact, it’s even better if they can just line up someone to put an ad within their content and they get to focus on their content and someone else can focus on the ads. The creator marketplace does exactly that.
On the other side of it, the advertisers increasingly want to be with creator content. Brands want to put their content with a creator because it’s most trusted by consumers and by other businesses. If you look at the latest Edelman Trust report, the trust in creators as voices is higher than almost any other institution.
SG: So it sounds like LinkedIn is trying to go into this B2B creator space and own it. Is that right?
DR: We’re already in it. And yes, we definitely want to be a major player here, both on the creator side and the advertiser side.
SG: So what does this mean in terms of the type of content we’re going to be seeing more of on the platform? Does it mean you’re going to be leaning into more video from creators? Newsletters?
DR: Video is an incredibly important content type, the fastest growing content type. [But] we’re not saying video is the only way to be able to talk about what’s going on in the world. Text, newsletters, infographics. When people come to LinkedIn they come with an investment mindset. They want to make sure the time they’re spending here is a good use of their time, not just a scroll they’re doing.
SG: You have an interesting window to see how AI is changing the job market. You’ve offered a lot of tools on the platform to both create content, create resumes with AI and we also know AI is reviewing those same resumes. So what part of this process is actually human anymore and how does that change the outcomes of how we’re getting good candidates — who gets hired?
DR: It’s completely insane. You talk to recruiters and one of the things they say is there are no bad resumes and no bad cover letters. Everyone is perfect. It’s all AI all the way up and down. What you're seeing is recruiters increasingly using skill-based hiring. In the old days it was, ”Where did you work? Where did you go to school?”
SG: Now, none of that matters?
DR: None of that matters. Right now it is, “What can you do?” That can be a good thing; it kind of democratizes it. Employers are looking for that skill base. They want to see proof that you’ve done that. So that’s where it comes back to content. You’re a journalist, so you are used to having clips that tell your story better. In most industries, there’s no public record that shows their work. Now people are showing their work, “Hey I built this. Here’s something I vibe coded.” They’re showing their projects. Showing your results has become essential.
We hear from employers all the time that they do not need AI experts. They want you to be able to show you are agile enough that you are using AI at work because they need people who are going to be with them through these massive changes that they’re going through. So, it’s a pretty different world.
SG: We’ve all heard about how leaders of companies need to change how they’re communicating on social platforms, as well as brands, to be more authentic. But it doesn’t always go well. What’s your advice on how to do this well?
DR: First of all, you have to be authentic to you. Then I would say, take lots of swings. Try things. Be willing to put yourself out there in kind of uncomfortable areas. My favorite example of this is Jon Gray, [president and chief operating officer] of Blackstone. He posts these running videos. He travels around the world constantly. He would record a video while he’s jogging on his phone. He’s falling out of the frame. And he posted it on LinkedIn and it blew up. His employees love it. It’s a real connection to him as a human leader. His customers love it. He says when he goes to any meeting now they open it up with a running video. They ask to go running with him. They want to shoot content with him. He’s become a creator. So not everyone is going to be able to do this, but find what is right for you.
A lot of times when I talk to executives, they’re like, “ Alright, I understand that video is important. I’ve got to start doing this. I’ve got to start talking. I’m going to build a studio.” And I’m like, “Don’t build a studio. Just get your camera, prop it up on your desk and start talking.”
This Q+A is part of Verified, a newsletter that is published by Washington Post Creator, a new business outside The Washington Post’s newsroom that is focused on the creator economy and content partnerships with independent creators. Learn more about Washington Post Creator.
