infographics that made me smile

The final module of my Squared Online course looked at inforgraphics - what makes them sharable, have good design and relevant data. Here are 3 digital infographics I liked:

The colour of this takes you through the journey easily.

ok - this technically isn't about digital but I like the simplicity and I want to know how to make many!!

I love the graphics on this. To me, its fun and sharable...

Out the 3 above, which one will you remember?

Is a selfie really a selfie?

                                                    Whether your doing it on your own...

 

 dragged a boyfriend to join you 

 

or dragging all your besties

 nearly everyone with a smart phone has had least 1 selfie taken over the past 2 years.

According to the Daily Mail online:

• More than 17m selfies uploaded weekly, over 33% post at least once a week
• Brits aged 25-34 are most prolific selfie snappers, accounting for 34%
• One in six of over 55’s regularly take a selfie, compared to 10% of 18-24



How much data are we really giving out? There was a point in 2013 where we all became obsessed with taking pictures of ourselves and loading them onto the World Wide Web. While I have nothing against those who choose to share on the internet, I like to remind myself that what we share online, will forever remain online. One of the modules in the Squared Online course looks at gathering data and insight and using it wisely to make business decisions and strategies. I became really interested on how you can stop your data from being passed/used in ways I wasn't pleased about and came across this: 'Why you should care about and defend your privacy'  by Alan Henry (http://lifehacker.com/5904966/why-you-should-care-about-and-defend-your-privacy)

Here are some bits from this article I found interesting....
'Your data is worth real, tangible money to the companies that offer you free services (in Facebook's case,you're worth just shy of $5 per year) and the companies they do business with, even if they're not asking you to open your wallet.'

'If you're a Chrome user, there are tons of great add-ons and tools designed to help you uncover which sites transmit data to third parties without your knowledge, which third parties are talking about you, and which third parties are tracking your activity across sites.'

While you love the look of your drunken selfie right now, how impressed will you be in the future. According to the research, 91% of employers will use either LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook to screen candidates. Are you happy to share that selfie with everybody? In my opinion, some selfies should be for your self.

Making Millions Online?

In module 2 of the Squared course we were asked to work in a team to come up with an online business that could potentially 'make millions'. While this task sounds fun, my group and I slowly realised how difficult it is in these times to come up with a online business plan that hadn't already been successfully executed or failed miserably. New companies are formed daily, but how many of those companies are really relevant in our everyday lives? This got me thinking...What do I actually use digital for? I came across the online article by vijayanths.expertscolumn.com 'Top 15 Things to Do on The Internet-the Best Uses of The Internet' but I've narrowed it down to 5....

'1. Google search: This I think is the most important use of Internet for millions of people around the world. In particular Google search is much useful to me as I always prefer learning things on my own. So it has become easier for me to learn many things or to get the information I want with the help of the top search engine Google. Let it be about “dancing with the starts2011, About Gaddafi, Michael Jackson, car insurance, benefits of green tea, how to prevent cancer, Shakira, ICC cricket world cup 2011, world’s most beautiful women, whatever, I get all the information within minutes. Google is indeed a boon for Internet users.

2. E mail: Internet has made it easy to send mails across the globe free of cost, in just within seconds. Imagine, how much paper, time and money are saved by this simple e mail facility that we are enjoying today.

3. Online banking : Internet banking has made our life easier. We can do most of our bank transactions online and there is no need to personally go to the bank.

4. Other online services: We can pay our bills such as telephone bills, electricity bills online and eventually save a lot of time as there is no need to go to the offices and wait in queues.

5. Online reservations: We can book our plane tickets , train tickets, bus and even movie tickets'


.....but if I am honest only one stood out for me!

'Online Shopping: Online shopping is becoming more and more popular these days. Today many Internet users prefer online shopping. They buy goods online from sites like Ebay and Amazon.'

Here are a few points to that still blow my mind.

•In 2013 35% bought clothes online  and fashion sales grew by 18%

•Clothing market worth £6.9bn forecasted by 2015

•Fashion sales are forecast to double by 2018

Women love to shop. Always have and always will. This was just the start of our making millions plan.

My digital life

It is crazy to think that almost 10 years ago, I didn't have a 'digital life'. Today, my relationship with something digital begins from the moment I wake up to the second I fall asleep. What surprises me the most is my commitment to a certain brand: Apple. Yes, you either love it or loathe it but you cannot ignore it..Steve Jobs (along with co-founders Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne) has changed our lives in so many ways it is almost unbearable to imagine a life without some sort of digital interference. In his Forbes blog post of How Digital Technology Has Changed the World, Nick Morgan says:

'Twenty-first century communication has changed how we connect to the world in three essential ways:  connectivity, authenticity, and style'

Here is how my current digital life looks like. Hopefully, your digital life is more productive than mine.