3 ms·

Blogs are dead but YouTube is thriving. I can find endless high quality content on basically any topic. Even compared to 10 years ago it’s so much better today.

Blogs are dead but YouTube is thriving. I can find endless high quality content on basically any topic. Even compared to 10 years ago it’s so much better today. I don’t think there has ever been a better time to learn on the internet than today.

throw9away6 3y ago
If you want to learn by video I agree. The problem with video is that it takes forever to extract the info you need
- evilduck 3y ago
  Videos as a medium are also incentivized to reach certain lengths so they can inject ads into otherwise boring and mundane topics. As an example, try to look up on YouTube how to replace your car fob’s battery (doesn’t matter what brand) and you will absolutely encounter an 8-10 minute video offered up for what’s probably a 15 second value and something the manufacturer could have provided in a decent 3 panel illustration hosted on a static .html page, but won’t.
  - midoridensha 3y ago
    >for what’s probably a 15 second value and something the manufacturer could have provided in a decent 3 panel illustration hosted on a static .html page, but won’t. Right, because you're not supposed to do that yourself. You're supposed to go to your dealership and pay them $50 to change the $0.20 battery in 15 seconds. Do you really think you're qualified to do such a difficult operation by yourself? I actually got into an argument on Nextdoor once because someone was promoting a battery store that charged "only" $20 for this "service", and felt it was a "good value" and got mad that I was pointing out that you can just buy the battery by itself for less than a dollar and do it yourself.
- kingds 3y ago
  yes! try to learn anything related to home maintenance and it feels like youtube is your only option. and you are stuck trying to scrub through a 20 minute video to find the 10 second slice on info you’re looking for.
  - crucialfelix 3y ago
    Open the transcript. You can read through all the spoken content and click to go to a point in the video
    - yogurthewise 3y ago
      Good tip! You can also watch on 2x speed and put it back to 1x or 1.5x if you want to focus on a specific step.
muppetman 3y ago
I can't understand how anyone accepts watching a 15m video to learn something 2 paragraphs of text can explain.
- yogurthewise 3y ago
  Because not all content creators pad their videos. They often provide links to documentation. You can easily skip through the video and you have the option to watch them on 2x speed which is what I often do.
- I_Am_Nous 3y ago
  Ugh I hate the "obviously padding time with rambling to meet X minutes long" where X = some arbitrary number the YouTube algorithm is prioritizing this quarter. Some things are worth a deep dive with pitfalls laid out in a methodical way. Most things are not.
  - yogurthewise 3y ago
    Just skip to the main part of the video and watch on 2x then.
  - seabrookmx 3y ago
    > X = some arbitrary number the YouTube algorithm is prioritizing This thing about video length is mostly a myth. "The algorithm" juggles many variables but I've seen no evidence content length is one of them. There was a very common pattern of rambling to meet the 10m mark because this was a threshold to add a midroll ad to your video and thus make more money. So your point still applies, it's just purely out of creator greed and not chasing youtube's heuristics.
    - jezzamon 3y ago
      I believe creators get paid by watch time, so they are incentivised to make videos as long as possible
      - 3y ago
jj999 3y ago
The issue I see with this is while there are myriads of blog hosting services, an equal number of vps providers if you want to have more control, and you can even host your blog yourself in your basement if you are so inclined, there is only one Youtube grabbing much of the money and leaving peanuts for the actual creators.
isaacfung 3y ago
I wouldn't say blogs are dead. There are still some good ones(swyx.io, simonwillison.net, eugeneyan.com, etc). There are also a lot of good content in the form of podcasts and newletters(basically blogs with regular update). I think naturally practitioners/experts have better insider insight about the industry than full time content creators but they can't dedicate as much time to create content. Lots of youtube channels just try to cater to beginners, abuse clickbait titles, recycle content from other sources, fill the videos with low effort memes.

throw9away6 3y ago

If you want to learn by video I agree. The problem with video is that it takes forever to extract the info you need

evilduck 3y ago
Videos as a medium are also incentivized to reach certain lengths so they can inject ads into otherwise boring and mundane topics. As an example, try to look up on YouTube how to replace your car fob’s battery (doesn’t matter what brand) and you will absolutely encounter an 8-10 minute video offered up for what’s probably a 15 second value and something the manufacturer could have provided in a decent 3 panel illustration hosted on a static .html page, but won’t.
- midoridensha 3y ago
  >for what’s probably a 15 second value and something the manufacturer could have provided in a decent 3 panel illustration hosted on a static .html page, but won’t. Right, because you're not supposed to do that yourself. You're supposed to go to your dealership and pay them $50 to change the $0.20 battery in 15 seconds. Do you really think you're qualified to do such a difficult operation by yourself? I actually got into an argument on Nextdoor once because someone was promoting a battery store that charged "only" $20 for this "service", and felt it was a "good value" and got mad that I was pointing out that you can just buy the battery by itself for less than a dollar and do it yourself.
kingds 3y ago
yes! try to learn anything related to home maintenance and it feels like youtube is your only option. and you are stuck trying to scrub through a 20 minute video to find the 10 second slice on info you’re looking for.
- crucialfelix 3y ago
  Open the transcript. You can read through all the spoken content and click to go to a point in the video
  - yogurthewise 3y ago
    Good tip! You can also watch on 2x speed and put it back to 1x or 1.5x if you want to focus on a specific step.

muppetman 3y ago

I can't understand how anyone accepts watching a 15m video to learn something 2 paragraphs of text can explain.

yogurthewise 3y ago
Because not all content creators pad their videos. They often provide links to documentation. You can easily skip through the video and you have the option to watch them on 2x speed which is what I often do.
I_Am_Nous 3y ago
Ugh I hate the "obviously padding time with rambling to meet X minutes long" where X = some arbitrary number the YouTube algorithm is prioritizing this quarter. Some things are worth a deep dive with pitfalls laid out in a methodical way. Most things are not.
- yogurthewise 3y ago
  Just skip to the main part of the video and watch on 2x then.
- seabrookmx 3y ago
  > X = some arbitrary number the YouTube algorithm is prioritizing This thing about video length is mostly a myth. "The algorithm" juggles many variables but I've seen no evidence content length is one of them. There was a very common pattern of rambling to meet the 10m mark because this was a threshold to add a midroll ad to your video and thus make more money. So your point still applies, it's just purely out of creator greed and not chasing youtube's heuristics.
  - jezzamon 3y ago
    I believe creators get paid by watch time, so they are incentivised to make videos as long as possible
    - 3y ago

jj999 3y ago

The issue I see with this is while there are myriads of blog hosting services, an equal number of vps providers if you want to have more control, and you can even host your blog yourself in your basement if you are so inclined, there is only one Youtube grabbing much of the money and leaving peanuts for the actual creators.

isaacfung 3y ago

I wouldn't say blogs are dead. There are still some good ones(swyx.io, simonwillison.net, eugeneyan.com, etc). There are also a lot of good content in the form of podcasts and newletters(basically blogs with regular update). I think naturally practitioners/experts have better insider insight about the industry than full time content creators but they can't dedicate as much time to create content. Lots of youtube channels just try to cater to beginners, abuse clickbait titles, recycle content from other sources, fill the videos with low effort memes.