Friday, August 22, 2008

Survey Says: Video very popular learning tool

We are definitely in the age of Internet video, but that should really come as no surprise. YouTube made it clear a few years ago that video on the Interwebs was for the masses. What comes as a little more of surprise, as seen in the most recent survey poll run on this blog, is that video is almost as popular of a learning tool as traditional articles and help documentation. Specifically, 41% of respondents indicated that their favorite way to learn on the web was via video. That compares to 43% that prefer articles and help docs and the distant 3rd 14% that prefer blogs. These results suggest a couple of things to me:

  1. If you're going to write a detailed "how to," publish it as an article and don't burry it in a blog. It appears more people will seek out articles for learning than random information scattered in a blog's archives.
  2. Make more video content- at least as much as you are producing in writing. Pictures are worth 1,000 words, moving pictures (in theory) 30,000 per second. Many people learn better from video than text (apparently), so make sure you've got video content for them.
At Telerik, we're acting on this feedback. As you've noticed on my blog, I've started the new Telerik Watch Minute series, and Kevin Babcock is also doing short RadTips. And this is just the beginning. Watch for more great expanded video coverage to match Telerik's already expansive written content. Finally, to the few jokers out there that were surprised you can actually use the Internet for learning, your anthem: The Internet is for Porn (clean link, I promise).

0 comments: