Over the previous few weeks, we’ve seen inaccurate knowledge and graphs circulating on social media channels relating to Stack Overflow’s site visitors. We wished to take the chance to supply extra context and knowledge on the origin of that knowledge, the site visitors traits we’re seeing, and the work we’re doing to make sure Stack Overflow stays a go-to vacation spot for builders and technologists for years to come back.
Let’s begin with why the info within the graph that’s circulating is inaccurate. There have been two modifications we made over the past yr that affect how we measure and report site visitors on Stack Overflow. Each had been necessary and obligatory steps to assembly the privateness wants of our customers.
First, we recategorized our Google Analytics cookie. That was accomplished in Might of 2022, and resulted in Google Analytics reporting on fewer guests’ website exercise. Shortly after, in September of 2022, we upgraded to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which gives extra configurable privacy-enabling settings, corresponding to nameless modeling of website site visitors, which we have now enabled.
After upgrading to GA4, we didn’t replace or add context to an analytics web page on our website, which is barely obtainable to a small inhabitants of customers with greater than 25,000 status factors on Stack Overflow. The chart that has been circulating was based mostly on deprecated knowledge accessed from this web page. Our group is working to deal with the required modifications.
Though we have now seen a small decline in site visitors, under no circumstances is it what the graph is exhibiting (which some have incorrectly interpreted to be a 50% or 35% lower). This yr, total, we’re seeing a mean of ~5% much less site visitors in comparison with 2022. Stack Overflow stays a trusted useful resource for hundreds of thousands of builders and technologists.
As anybody who has labored within the digital area is aware of, a web site’s site visitors and engagement will be influenced by a wide range of elements. Stack Overflow isn’t any completely different, notably given the fast innovation taking place because of new applied sciences. In 2020, as tech employees responded to the wants of a distant workforce, we shared details about the “pandemic spikes” we noticed in new questions requested round cloud and safety. Conversely, in April of this yr, we noticed an above common site visitors lower (~14%), which we will doubtless attribute to builders making an attempt GPT-4 after it was launched in March. Our site visitors additionally modifications based mostly on search algorithms, which have an enormous affect on how our content material is found.
The surge in generative AI, just like the rise of some other disruptive expertise, ought to trigger us to replicate, problem, and query how we measure success. The way forward for the web and the trendy tech panorama isn’t going to be measured by net site visitors alone—it’s in regards to the high quality of content material, belief within the content material, and the communities of specialists and human beings curating the content material.
We count on GenAI to trigger some rises and falls in conventional site visitors and engagement over the approaching months. On one hand, first-time coders might go to or ask questions much less ceaselessly as a result of the solutions will probably be extra available through AI options (together with OverflowAI!). Nonetheless, those self same AI instruments will result in a surge of latest issues to be solved and inquiries to be requested.
Alternatively, generative AI will democratize coding and develop the developer neighborhood. This rising variety of builders and technologists will probably be asking new questions and utilizing and verifying this knowledge, bringing extra customers to the Stack Overflow neighborhood.
There isn’t a scarcity of the way builders can leverage AI. However there’s one core deterrent in its adoption: belief within the accuracy of AI-generated content material. Stack Overflow’s annual Developer Survey of 90,000 coders just lately discovered that 77% of builders are favorable of AI instruments, however solely 42% belief the accuracy of these instruments.
In our OverflowAI bulletins final month at WeAreDevelopers, we showcased our roadmap for the mixing of GenAI options into our public platform and our non-public SaaS platform Stack Overflow for Groups. These, in addition to different community-focused initiatives, supply builders new capabilities that guarantee they get to options sooner inside their workflow and supply extra alternatives to contribute and interact on Stack Overflow.
OverflowAI was developed with neighborhood on the core and with a concentrate on the accuracy of information and AI-generated content material. We stay up for studying from our neighborhood and prospects as we discover methods to ship extra worth and evolve Stack Overflow for the subsequent period of expertise.
Tags: site visitors
