Why Open Source Needs to Care More About Video
Most Open Source projects miss a huge opportunity to increase developer adoption by not caring about video. In this article I’ll show you my evidence that there is a problem and how I’m helping solve it.
Recently I’ve had the opportunity to help create two intro videos for Open Source projects, the most recent video for Vue.js as you can watch below:
It’s been my experience that Open Source projects often undervalue the opportunity that comes with using video. I’ve heard all the complaints:
- Video gets outdated too quickly.
- Video is harder for people who have English as a second language.
- Good documentation is just more important.
I agree entirely that documentation should have a higher priority over video, but I also think that video serves an important purpose. Video allows you to:
- Explain ideas visually with animation.
- Entertain and connect with your viewers.
- Watch someone as they actually code.
This all sounds good, but is there any data showing that video is more effective? Well, my friend, I’ve got the data to back it up. See earlier this year Adam Jahr and I worked with Jeremy Thomas to create a video on Bulma, the CSS Framework.
It’s on the front page, just like the Vue.js video, and the new visitors who hit play on the video stay 57% longer on the website than the people who don’t (this data was pulled from the last 30 days of Google Analytics). Not only that, but they visit more pages and stay longer on each page (1:29 vs 1:00 seconds per page average).
Admittedly, I can’t tell you that those people who watch the video adopt the technology, but I suspect longer engagement means they’re more likely to adopt.
That might lead you to wonder, “What do developers on average think about video education?” I’m glad you asked, because last August we surveyed 249 developers.
Video matters, I suspect more than it did five years ago. I know I look for videos showing me how to solve problems more than I did five years ago.
You Don’t Just Pickup One Book
When it comes down to it, you’re not going to reach mastery on a subject by reading one book. Even if text tutorials are most useful to you, that doesn’t mean you’re not going to keep an eye out for video. So we asked that question too.
73%, that’s huge.
But if you look at major Open Source projects, like say Node.js, React, or Angular you find no video on their homepages. Others like TypeScript or Kubernetes end up embedding conference videos further down on their webpage. It’s almost as if they know their videos aren’t quite good enough to help someone really start learning. Otherwise wouldn’t they be at the top?
If you have additional thoughts on why more video isn’t a big part of Open Source I’d love to hear from you. From where I’m standing it’s a huge opportunity both for the projects themselves, and for teacher entrepreneurs like me.
