Squabbling over Infographics

The Internet is overflowing with information. In a single day, we watch the equivalent of 168 million DVDs, write 2 million blog posts, and upload 864,000 hours of videos to YouTube (source: Mashable). So how can you stand out from the competition, get noticed, and create a buzz without drowning in a sea of information? Words don’t always cut it. These days, there are several tricks you can use to dress up your information. Videos, webinars, and infographics are all part of the new content marketing trend.

Infographics are what you get when you cross information with graphics. They are clear and concise visual and graphic representations of complex information, data, or knowledge, and they’re one of the major trends of 2012. This Mashable article provides a good analysis of these new web trends, explaining how the recent success of Pinterest, Instagram, and the new Facebook Timeline is forcing companies to think and act visually.

The infographics invasion

These days, infographics lead to more infographics. Hundreds of infographics are created every day. Internet users share them, companies ask for them—it’s an explosion! It seems that just about anything is an excuse to make an infographic—even infographics themselves. Pick a topic, throw in a few key figures, an attractive design, and presto! The hottest topics are web technologies, recent web developments, social media, and new marketing. Other topics include education, tourism, politics, health, life, business, animals—whatever. There are infographics on all sorts of weird and wonderful things, like beards, and even death ! There’s something for everyone. Thanks to social media, infographics can spread worldwide and are shared on a massive scale, triggering what’s known as viral marketing. If an infographic is successful, it can have a real impact on a business’s reputation, driving traffic to the company’s website, optimizing its search engine ranking, and showcasing the company’s expertise on a subject.

Here are two infographics about infographics that explain the recent explosion.

Infographistory - Infographics past and present

The infographics invasion

The appeal of infographics

This is the age of information. Now that cell phones, computers, and other techno tools are an integral part of our daily lives, everywhere we look, we’re bombarded with gigabits of information. With so much info out there, we just can’t take it all in.

With a little design and colour, infographics can give information a second chance. Certain topics are well-suited to infographics, like science and technology, which can come off as too complex with just words. Complex subjects are made more simple and clear when they are illustrated visually with colours and symbols. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Infographics can grab people’s attention and reach a large audience, providing information about the world around them.

Infographics have become so popular because they make information accessible in a fun, visual, and original way. VentureBeat.com’s article lays out the pros and cons of infographics.

Here are a few pro-infographics all about infographics:

The how and why of infographics

How to create great infographics

The dark side of infographics

Not everyone is singing the praises of infographics. For some folks, “infographics are a great tool for lazy bloggers, giving little value to readers.”

With infographics, aesthetics often take precedence over quality content, much to the chagrin of many bloggers. Just because a fact is presented beautifully doesn’t mean it’s true. In fact, sources—assuming they actually exist—aren’t always cited. But with infographics popping up on anything and everything, both the technique and its creators are at risk of losing credibility. Here are a couple of articles that delve deeper into the subject: Read Write Web compares infographics to the devil, while howinteractivedesign.com’s article explains why we should not be creating infographics.

What better way to bash infographics than with an infographic!

Infographics Are Ruining the Internet

The Truth About Infographics (An infographic-backlash infographic)

The moral of the story? Ingest infographics in moderation (or at least with a grain of salt)!

Original translated by syllabus.