Is The World Obsessed With Subscriptions? This New Report Provides The Most Unique Outlook

In the leading digital world of today, the term subscriptions are bound to ring a bell. And that just goes to show how most of us are so intrigued about getting on board with the right one.

Be it streaming videos and music to attaining the leading top stories in the industry, one thing is for sure. We bet most of our readers have a few subscriptions in place at the moment. But when we sit down and analyze the whole situation, it’s interesting to learn how things may be getting a little out of hand. People are literally getting burned out by the whole ordeal.

The news comes to us thanks to SurePayroll who recently carried out a survey to assess just how big of a problem and how serious this entire craze linked to subscriptions is turning out to be.

Over 1,000 participants were enrolled and were spoken to across the US. They were aged between the likes of 18 to 65. Meanwhile, around 95% of individuals went on to mention how subscriptions are going to stay, whether they like it or not. Interestingly, they’re bound to grow and forget about getting reduced.

A lot of people held the opinion that subscriptions kept them organized and aware of alerts while others felt it gave them more agenda or purpose in life. Around two out of three individuals mentioned how content they were about having the accurate number of subscriptions right by their side.

The results that were published spoke about how there was overlap among the various types of services getting offered. Things that people need are in correspondence with what they need to consider canceling.

As far as fitness and streaming are concerned, well, they make up the lists. And if you’re a fan of subscriptions in general, you’ll be happy that a lot of them might not keep disturbing you for making payments to them. But those who aren’t fans said they’re sick and tired of feeling like they’ve got not a lot of things to do.

You usually aren’t doing anything but renting access to things instead of the comfort of owning them. As it is, the study showed how not a lot of individuals were a fan of having them by their side, as 11% spoke about hating them.

Around 25% of the people surveyed felt subscriptions were a waste of money and they’re super expensive most of the time.

Meanwhile, the top categories in terms of popularity for various subscriptions out there today included the likes of tech stuff. At least 36% of the people appreciated having their software licenses renewed or even other important things like their cloud services.

Next in line in terms of popularity were food and drink and their respective deliveries. But one piece of news that this survey revealed and was also something we found interesting is how 30% of people were actually sharing a subscription with someone else. This might be why Netflix is cracking down on such behavior as password sharing.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Facebook Decides To Remove Its 360 Cover Photos Feature Soon

Facebook has opted to kill it's much talked about and used 360 cover photo feature as early as November 5th of this month.

The news comes to us thanks to social media expert Mat Navarra who revealed through his status on Twitter the latest happening.

Moreover, users are allowed to update their cover photos using this feature before the above-outlined date, he went on to add. As a part of its replacement, we’ll be seeing the platform include still images.

For years now, Facebook has been a huge supporter of these 360-degree images and videos that add a new dimension to content on the app itself. We saw it include support for the feature through the platform too. It came with plenty of hype as this was the first time that we’d see a new feature on the app introduced for cover photos.

So users could take images on the app and then use those very same images as cover photos on their profiles. How’s that for added convenience? But now, seeing this feature fade away and get replaced with other still images might make quite a few users upset who were accustomed to the offering. Now, we will have to bid farewell.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

43% of Travelers Want to Use VR to Plan Vacations

Virtual reality technology is still in a rather nascent stage of its development, but in spite of the fact that this is the case several use cases for it have emerged that suggest that it could be the next big thing. It turns out that vacation planning is one of the areas where virtual reality could be useful because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing vacationers to check out their destinations before they go there.

Booking.com recently conducted a global survey, and with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that 43% of the people who responded to this survey said that they would like to check out a vacation spot through VR. Indeed, some people might even prefer a vacation that is purely virtual in nature, although their feelings are a bit more mixed about this than might have been the case otherwise.

35% of survey respondents stated that they would like to book a multi-day VR experience next year that would replace their standard vacation options, although 60% also felt like this would not be nearly as fulfilling as the real thing. That shows a bit of disparity in what people say they want and what they feel like they could enjoy with all things having been considered and taken into account.

46% of people who took part in this survey said that vacation destinations that used to seem unfavorable to them would start to become more appealing if they were able to check them out through VR before booking a trip. This suggests a very intriguing usage case for VR, one that could take this nascent take to the next stage of its development journey.

It will be interesting to see if 2023 reveals any further details about the future of VR tech. Consumers are clearly willing to experiment with it, but we will have to wait and see if this experimentation yields long term growth for the industry or will it just be a flash in the pan.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Meta Provides Open Access To Its Professional Mode For All International Creators

We first saw the company announcing a Professional Mode feature to a limited number of creators across the board. This came about last year in December.

But now, it appears the tech giant is busy providing global access to all creators with the feature. This will in turn assist in giving a series of options that help creators make a greater presence on the platform.

You can see the Professional Mode being awfully similar to the likes of brands that provide creators with a number of Facebook profiles that promote work and create the right audience.

Like Meta says, the professional mode is designed to utilize the right professional tools to create the right fan base and engagement with audiences. Similarly, it’s designed to assist creators to make different monetization programs that help them connect with audiences and provide direct access to so many tools. This includes the likes of Meta’s Reels Play initiative and the famous Stars that are created for audience donations.

In the same way, we’re seeing the firm test out a new stream ads initiative for all forms of creative content that’s going to be accessible through Professional Mode. Remember, in-stream advertisements are getting launched and it’s eligible to different creators that assist in earning money by allowing ads to be played both before, during, and after various forms of long content.

The Professional Mode is created for the sake of direct access to various features but most of them are still in demand and in the testing phase. Hence, there’s no real guarantee that you’re going to be using them.

There’s even another enticing feature called post-scheduling. Another feature worth a mention is the Creator Support Hub. Here, creators get the chance to gain access to both educational materials and plenty of support to assist on various issues such as requests, bullying, and eligibility amongst others.

In case you didn’t notice by now, this is a new push toward the Metaverse and that’s why the firm is very keen on moving ahead with the idea of making connections with creators.

The company knows that it can really make the most engaging and exciting experience with the Metaverse and it doesn’t even require any type of creative talent. These features will need all types of tools like AR and even VR. This way, creators will be able to better promote via modes of engagement.

Keeping all of this in mind, it is quite clear what Meta wants and how it’s willing to better its offerings for various creators on the platform.

Read next: 85% of Organizations Plan to Increase Automation by 2025
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

85% of Organizations Plan to Increase Automation by 2025

The management of infrastructure and operations has been a largely human-led task so far, but in spite of the fact that this is the case recent reports are indicating that we might start to see a higher level of automation within the I&O departments of organizations than might have been the case otherwise. According to a recent survey conducted by Gartner, around 85% of industry leaders in the infrastructure and operations department stated that they plan to increase their levels of automation by 2025.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this represents a huge increase from the 20% of organizations who indicated that they had implemented various levels of automation last year in 2021. 70% of the organizations that responded to this survey said that they plan to implement structured automation because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up increasing efficiency across the board.

The automation of I&O processes is largely focused on a few key areas, with 47% of industry leaders stating that application deployment was one of their primary areas of focus with all things having been considered and taken into account. Workload automation, analytics and device deployment for end users are also top priorities with the first two being mentioned by 43% of survey respondents and the last one receiving 41%.

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83% of I&O specialists who are working in analytics and monitoring stated that automation could be quite useful for them, but only 43% reported currently using automation to any extent. 75% of incident resolution teams also said that they want increase automation, since only 36% of them can rely on it right now.

Automation is the future of most industries, and this is especially true in the field of infrastructure and operations. This is a broad field that covers many of the aspects of a business, and if automation is slowly implemented this might do a lot to boost efficiency. 21% of leaders in I&O have already reported successful automation, and the number is sure to increase in the future.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Over 24 million US Families Have Been Target for Multiple Account Frauds in The Past Year

A recent report shows that millions of US families have fallen prey to various account frauds in the form of identity thefts, social media hijacks, and online scams.

With emerging technologies, online security seems to be one of the biggest challenges. With every passing day, internet fraud, social media hijacking, and online scams are the most common challenges. According to various research, one out of every 10 US citizens fall prey to online scam every year.

According to SEON data, account takeover (ATO) fraud has affected around 24 million American families. The report indicates that in the past year, a 288 billion dollar loss was incurred by account takeover fraud, with an average estimate of almost $12,000 per victim.

The US has a literacy rate of 79%. With 79% literate people, online scams like account takeover fraud are one of the biggest challenges for American citizens and the country's major stakeholders. An account takeover fraud is a type of phishing attack. In an ATO, a hacker/criminal gains access to valid social media accounts of the target. With that access, the hacker primarily targets active accounts such as email accounts and online banking.

The research also highlights that 51 percent of ATO attacks hunt for social media accounts, along with banking account details. It makes up 32 percent of overall breaches. The emerging amount of account takeover fraud is not only a threat to individuals. It is one of the prominent threats to businesses and organizations as well, as ample social entities fall prey to online fraud each year.

Furthermore, the survey illustrates that various US states have been a target for ATO fraud. According to the list, the US state of North Dakota remains the worst affected area. With around 670 victims of internet crimes, the affected state faced a massive loss of almost 21 million dollars with an individual loss of 31 thousand dollars.

California and Texas come next on the list, with massive account takeover frauds in the past year. The report shows that around 41,000 people in Texas, whereas an estimated 67,000 people in California were affected by ATO fraud. The following fraud caused a total loss of 1 billion dollars in California and a 606 million dollar loss in Texas, with an approximate $18,000 and $14,000 loss per victim, respectively.

Besides this, multiple other US states, such as New York, South Dakota, Michigan, and Utah, also incurred heavy losses by account takeover fraud, with an average of $16,000 loss per victim.

To conclude, the following statistics highlight the lack of awareness of Americans towards online scams. As per the reports, people must be well aware of emerging crimes and online scams in the form of social media hijacking, identity thefts, and common phishing attacks. The survey also highlights that not only individuals should guard themselves against online scams and account takeover frauds. Profitable organizations and social entities should also take a step forward to defend themselves from such attacks that might cause damage to their vital data and reputation.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Where Should You Focus Your SEO Efforts In 2023? This New Report Has All The Insights You Need

We are just months away from the year ending and with 2023 around the corner, it makes sense as to why people are worried about the state of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for the new year.

If you’re wondering where to focus your SEO efforts in 2023, then this new data report from Search Engine Journal is sure to provide you with insights on which strategies to adopt for success. So let’s take a look!

See, it’s so important to realize what the most happening events in this SEO industry have been in 2022 before we jump into what you should do for 2023. Similarly, how are the professionals of the industry going about the situation and how did they behave to factors like a change in consumer behavior patterns and amendments to technology?

A staggering 3,600 professionals were surveyed for the study and they gave out insights regarding their experiences in the past year and what people can expect in the near future.

More than 25% of those studied spoke about having two or even less experience than that in the Search Engine Optimization industry. These responses hint at how the demand for such professionals is large.

Places like the US, Australia, and Canada had SEO professionals take on some great career opportunities that would make them advance and enter the world of high-salary figures. And about 31% of them would have such little experience but would still end up earning a mega $75,000.

It’s a huge value but still a fall from those figures outlined in 2021. This might be due to the large influx of new professionals and how much growth SEO had in various global regions.

But for next year, people are really worried about getting the right type of talent on board. This coupled with issues like the ongoing recession and new policies arising from places like the US are more concerns worth a glance at. So as you can tell, it’s going to be a major challenge for those arising in the world of SEO and those seeking better job opportunities.

Most people surveyed spoke about the SEO activity that they spent the most time being involved in. And the results for the highest priority went to Technical SEO which led the pack, followed by SEO Strategy, Keyword Research, and then SEO done On-page. This might be related to Google putting certain factors on priority like stability, speed, and security.

In February of this year, we saw a new Page Experience update come forward and it really had been at the top of the list for several SEO experts.

Then a lot of companies were seen refocusing on things like technicalities after a mega growth in digital channels taking place in the past few years. This further leads us to the likes of great focus on researching and building strategies. So as marketers found it a struggle to keep up this year, SEO experts really took the time out to reflect on the need of the day and how to approach things in a more technical manner.

In case you needed a reminder, the world of SEO is not easy and it takes a while to really get a hang of things. So many stats and metrics are present that measure targets for campaigns and match things like tracking up performance.

After digging into the nitty gritty details of the report, you’ll notice how SEO experts were required to produce services that aren’t exactly aligned with the trend in the report. Top metrics were reserved for the likes of Keyword Rankings but it came third in terms of demands from employers.

Next up, qualified leads took up the fifth position and it was really tracked well. But the demand for this service from employers was high. They really wanted people to carry it out. And lastly, while pageviews arose as a number on the metrics list, the topmost requested feature had to be web traffic.

With such a huge number of people taking part in the study, we found it interesting that around one-fourth of them didn’t know what to say about their experience. They were not happy or unhappy in 2022. But previous records are showing how the last few years were quite challenging.

It’s starting to make a lot of sense why firms and Search Engine Optimization experts are having trouble examining results as the world keeps evolving and industries are similarly changing. And that’s where such metrics really count as you need to track them down very carefully.

Next year, it’s all about AI technology and machine developments and the great challenges that arise with them. So if you’re in this field, you need to focus more on GA4, removing third-party cookies, and Performance Max.

Similarly, advertisers will resort to these endeavors to help better their offerings as algorithms need to be better-paid attention to.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World