Are videos like blog posts or like product pages?

Over the past year and a half, I've posted many videos on my primary Youtube channel (not to be confused with my new StoryTime channel). Many are tutorials on Gimp, Youtube and general topics, but there are also several that are product demos or product tutorials on Midas and CoexLinks Fidelity. These have been successful, but I face a new sort of issue I hope you can help me figure out.

 

When a video grows out of date due to a new version or revised sample, should I create a new one that is up to date? Probably, I should. But if I do, should I delete the old one and lose both its view count (and implied credibility) and search indexing, or should I leave it with a big link to the up-to-date video and set up a search results competition between old and new with the chance that people won't follow the link to the new video but will simply get annoyed and leave?

 

Fundamentally, are videos more like blog posts or more like product pages? I would never go back and re-write old blog posts, though I might provide a link on them to an updated blog post. On the other hand, I'll always update product pages to reflect the current reality.

 

The question is complicated more by the fact that each video takes a fair amount of time, and if I am reworking old videos, I am not making new videos. When the video is an important demonstration of features, such as Message Store in CoexLinks Fidelity 3.5, this time is worth it. But what of my Out of Notes series of videos? Those were created as I was building in capabilities for Midas LSX V5, and some things changed. Some of the videos cry out for updating, such as Out of Notes, Part 5: To SharePoint, but others showcase features that have not really caught on much, such as Out of Notes Part 2: Capsule Views. So, should I create new versions of old videos or create new videos and treat the past as the past?

What has been said:

1073.1. David Leedy (09/11/2014 09:16 AM)

What I think you should do is put a date in the front of your videos. At a certain age most tech people will assume that there's been changes - but you might want to have a standard disclaimer about that.

I've thought of doing that for my NotesIn9 stuff... but never have really. A good example is I have a show "Introduction to XPages". It's old and dated... but STILL one of my most popular shows every month. The day will come when I want to redo that.

Now for my blog... since I host with a 3rd party. Libsyn.com. I'm pretty sure that I could effectively "swap" the old video with a new one... and all the stats and links would be unaffected. I'm not sure that's possible on YouTube though...

It's a good question. I think for product stuff you need to get that date of recording and maybe a version number right up front.

1073.2. Craig Wiseman (09/13/2014 09:56 AM)

I think keeping it with a note and link that there's a new version available is the best route. It keeps the history and cred and folks understand that things change over time.

Also, it's far less annoying than clicking a search link and having it be dead because you've removed the video.