SEOs And Web Searchers Have Mixed Feelings on the State of the Internet According to This Poll

While Google’s status as the dominant search engine of the world is hard to dispute, many have been decrying the supposed declining quality of results that they can find on the SERP. Are these complaints unfounded or are they based on an actual quality decrease? One Twitter user sought to find out with a poll, and the results of these polls are really quite interesting with all things having been considered and taken into account.

In a tweet to his followers, Greg Sterling asked if it was Google that was making the internet worse, or if the internet was quite bad in and of itself and Google was doing what it could to deal with it make it better. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that users that responded to this poll seemed somewhat split on the matter at hand.

40.4% of respondents said that Google was to blame, and 41.2% chose the other option by blaming the web and praising Google. It is quite interesting that neither of these responses got a majority of votes, and they instead received a similar proportion which indicates that the problem might be a lot more nuanced than might have been the case otherwise.

18.4% of poll respondents said that they weren’t sure, and that just goes to show that the matter has a lot of moving parts and is therefore hard to pin down a single culprit for. Google for its part will admit that it has a lot of improving to do, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it will still assert that it is doing quite a lot on its end.

The state of the internet is a common source of woe for SEO professionals. Changes are often hard to predict, and any predictions may be subject to sudden headwinds that no one had expected in the past. However, a large proportion of SEOs are clearly blaming Google, and it will be interesting to see where this goes in the future.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Is Snapchat+ still being subscribed by users?

Snapchat started monetizing itself in the name of Snapchat+ and earned a tremendous $6 Million as its net revenue in a single month.

But after one month, the revenue dropped immediately, putting social media observers into the thought that whether it was just a coincidence that revenues become so high or it was a trend.

As AppFigures has collected Snapchat+ revenue generation data for this year, it becomes easy to predict whether it was a trend or it just happened by chance. Now, the answer seems to be a mixture of both, as the revenue generated in June peaked at $6 Million but dropped around 21% in August to less than $5 Million, but the graph is seen going up by 3.24% in September, +4.87% in October and last month the platform once again generated near to $6 Million in November, which is an 8.15% increase in the revenue since October.

Now this is a clear steep and it’s pretty easy to predict that December may be the month, that Snapchat+ will generate near to or almost $6 Million, which would be an increase of $0.4 Million since November.

It is estimated that by January, the revenue will be more than $6 Million.

At first, it was considered that no one would pay for access features before officially launching on Snapchat. Paid beta testing for Snapchat was not considered to be a success but as time passed, it has proved that people love to pay for early access to features and consider them as a possession that is not publicly available.

So, it’s good news for the company to keep generating early access features and selling them as Snapchat+.

The current subscription charge for Snapchat+ costs $3.99 per month. What makes Snapchat+ more unique and fascinating than normal Snapchat is that you can mark friends as BFFs, exclusive badges, keep count for story rewatch, and access Snapchat web are some of the many features of Snapchat+. You can also make a story on Snapchat+ private, allowing specific people to watch which compels privacy-conscious users to buy the subscription.

One feature that is missing in Snapchat+ is that there’s no option to remove ads, which users might find irritating, as in most of the apps, by paying, you get rid of ads, like in YouTube premium. With the addition of an ad-removal service to the Snapchat+ in future, it is possible to see a greater peak in the Snapchat+ revenue chart.

Read next: The list of the most downloaded and highest earning apps and games in November is finally out
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Twitter Is Bringing Back GIF Profile Pictures And Working On Tweaked Long-Form Tweets Among Other Changes

After taking its users on a whirlwind ride, Twitter is really opting to introduce some interesting changes for its users. And it’s all thanks to social media experts that we’ve got the latest news for you.

For starters, Jane Manchun Wong was quick to notice how the app is working on bringing back the classic GIF profile pictures. We think that would be really interesting for obvious reasons. Remember, some features of the app are still being recalled by users and this just might be one of them.

Next up, the platform is working on its settings for Community Notes. As shown by Wong recently, the feature would be giving users the chance to determine how often they’d like to get notified when a community note requires a reading.

If you happen to be all in and ecstatic about it, well, you can subscribe to get a few alerts on a daily basis. Those who select often would be getting the alerts on a weekly basis, and if you choose sometimes, well, you’ll attain some alerts each month. And then there is a category of never which means you won’t be bothered regarding the matter.

Last but not least, we’ve got some more news on Twitter working on another leading feature that was a long time coming. Alessandro Paluzzi was kind enough to share through his social media account that the platform is working on long-form tweets.

This means the initial 280 out of 4000 characters would be visible for display through the default settings. As the new Twitter Chief Elon Musk mentioned through a specific tweet on the matter, users can soon attach long-form text to their tweets.

This is guaranteed to end the craziness linked to taking notepad screenshots, he added.

Read next: New Research Raises Alarm Against Advertising Tool That Exposes Users’ Data To Twitter
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Photo Editing Apps Are One of the Most Used Apps By Smartphone Users

Lensa AI, an artificial intelligence photo editor is getting popular as days are passing and people are using it as much as they can to edit their photos. The popularity and success of Lensa AI aren't much surprising because people love a good photo editing app and this AI editor is great at editing. In 2019 when FaceApp got popular, everyone was using it to generate a picture of their younger and older self. It was a great app for fun face editing.

People who use smartphones have many photo apps installed on their devices because they love editing different parts of themselves, not because of any defect but just because it's fun. It doesn't matter why people love these apps too much because the camera and photo editing apps are one of the highest categories of apps being downloaded on the App Store as well as the Play Store. These types of apps are also one of the highest-grossing apps on the app stores and often remain high in the ranks. People do not hesitate to buy in-app features on photo editing apps to do some editing on a picture of themselves or others to make it look perfect.

Statista's Global Customer Survey showed that 4 in 10 smartphone users regularly use photo editing apps. This means that many people use editing apps daily instead of apps like browsers and messenger apps. The survey also showed the countries where people use photo editing apps the most. In Canada, 46% of smartphone users use photo editing apps while in Spain, the percentage is 43%. In the US, 42% of people use editing apps. In China and India, the number of regular editing app users is 40%. The UK is the country where people use face editing apps the least with 25%.

Read next: Is AI Adoption Reaching a Plateau?
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Customers Want More Advanced Imagery On Online Products As Many Online Shoppers Are Not Satisfied With the Images of Products on Websites

Nfinite, an e-merchandising platform, claims that many online shoppers want brands to enhance the images on their products. This survey was taken by 1,000 people in the US who regularly shop from online retailers. They said that most of their interest in a product is driven by its images as most of the brands use augmented reality and properly customized pictures. The survey showed that brands are not producing product images according to consumer demands. This is the reason that only 9% of the people on the survey say that they are satisfied with product images on online markets.

60% of the consumers said that if an image is captured in a real-life concept, they are likely to get attracted to the product as compared to products that have white or any neutral-colored background. 87% of the people in the US said that for them a high-quality picture of the products is important. 77% said that if they have never purchased from a website, their good photos alone can make them buy the product. There is always a doubt in customers that what if the product they purchased online doesn't look similar to what's shown on the website? That's why 75% of the people on the survey said that they are likely to return a product if it doesn't match its picture.

The survey also stated the preferences of GenZ vs Baby Boomers. GenZ wants more personalized experiences and augmented reality. 42% of GenZ says that they are more likely to buy from a website if they have AR tech but only 30% of the Baby Boomers agree to this. If lifestyle images are involved in selling the products, there is a high chance that people will be attracted to them. This can include photorealism, CGI and 3D imagery. If the sellers start selling their products like this, the browsing on their website will increase. More people will come to the website to see a product in a real life context. When a consumer buys a product but it doesn't match up with its usage as shown on the website, he is more likely to return the product. A product being returned results in losing a customer eventually. When a customer will have many options to see a product from different perspectives and angles, he will feel like he is physically at the store inspecting the product. Now this will make him buy the product quickly.

Read next: Americans Are the Only Ones Who Don’t Think Social Media Improves Democracy
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Twitter Officially Relaunches Its Paid Verification Plan With Increased Price For iOS Users And Rolls Out Community Notes For All

The controversial paid verification plan by Twitter has finally been relaunched. But it’s come at a steeper price tag for iOS users.

The platform says it has made a significant change and will now restart the program, hoping it does much better than its previous performance.

But we’d like to remind you that the prices are not the same. Android users can benefit from the $8 price tag while iOS users would now be paying $11 for the same on a monthly basis to attain that blue tick mark.

On an annual basis, that totals out to be $132 and if you ask us, it’s definitely a steep rise from what was observed in the past. But why the major rise for iOS users is a question you’re probably wondering.

Well, that’s because the app has finally devised a strategy that would rid the 30% in-app payment tax from affecting its potential profits. It’s a great alternative that would, in the long run, give users more value for each dollar.

Now if you simply signed up on the iOS, you’d be jetting out a 37% markup, and that too for nothing.

So what is the benefit of getting the blue verification tickmark in the first place? We bet you’re wondering what the answer to that question is. And we were too which is why we’ve enlisted a few pointers worth a mention.

For starters, those who pay will have their tweets mentioned at a higher rank which can be found in the searches too. It’s like giving users a great incentive for paying more. That’s not good for the rest of us who aren’t paying as our tweets won’t be given priority with limited exposure.

Next up, if you pay more, you’ll see fewer ads. Think along the lines of a 50% reduction in ads which sounds disastrous for Twitter but Musk says that if you’re a Blue subscriber, you’re paying more at the end of the day so they can compensate for it.

Also, if you are a Blue subscriber, you can add videos of longer duration. It’s like giving a Twitter user the chance to incorporate features that a regular YouTube user could do without a second thought.

In addition to all of this, you gain further access to Twitter edits, can make the most of the reader mode, and carry out video uploads comprising 1080p. And in case you’re worried about the whole impersonation fiasco, well, don’t be. Twitter says it has sorted it out but again, seeing is believing so we’re going to have to wait and watch out for that.

This is why it’s really leaving no stone unturned in terms of verifying users on the platform through a long list of security measures and different colored ticks for different types of profiles on the app. Clearly, the company has put in a lot of extra work to get things going and we hope it’s all to their benefit.

Another major change that Twitter has recently rolled out is making its Community Notes visible to all users around the globe.

No matter where you may be present in the world, you can rate as well as see notes. These usually tag along with tweets. While only those users in the US can create these, the app will soon be allowing others from different regions to contribute too.

We first saw the feature launched at the start of 2021 when it was called Birdwatch. This was done to rid the misinformation crisis during that period. Hence, whenever a post entails some details that are misleading, you can incorporate contextual notes that the app would highlight using indicators.

Read next: Adoption Of iOS 16 Continues To Grow As Apple Gets More Sales Of iPhone 14 Units
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

iPhone Takes The Top Position For Google Search Related To Gadget Insurance

In today’s unpredictable world, theft continues to increase as we speak. And that’s why more and more people are seeking insurance.

Gadget insurance is a realm that’s slowly unraveling to be a necessity as more and more people continue to acquire it for expensive purchases. And according to Google Search, the iPhone topped the search list in terms of the electronics that people are most keen on protecting.

In case you didn’t know, the mighty Black Friday sale in the United Kingdom really made many realize that people couldn’t get their hands off of iPhones and PlayStations. These made up the majority of sales that we witnessed, comprising nearly $9 billion.

Sadly, these gadgets are the ones that are mostly stolen too by thieves and that’s why consumers are now turning to gadget insurance to steer clear of such unfortunate incidents as the holiday season approaches.

Insurance for iPhones really came in first in terms of One Sure’s list for searches starting November of this year. It stood at 40,000 and then the Google Pixel handset came in next at just 1500. Other searches entailed the likes of cameras and laptops. These were 12,000 a piece during that duration.

These types of studies just go to show how keen people have become to protect themselves against damage. And while you might think it’s not linked to brands, well, the iPhone is leading the pack.

Meanwhile, the study by One Sure showed gadgets like the Xbox, drone, tabs, AirPods, and PlayStation came in next as far as gadget insurance on Google Search results was concerned.

The spokesperson leading the study by One Sure mentioned how the holiday season sees so many people making huge purchases during this season. Be it loved ones or friends, people are the most generous during this time of year. And that’s why most thefts happen to occur now too.

And while you might forget about gadgets when insurance policies come into play, the current security situation is a wake-up call that some policies linked to insurance should involve gadgets too. After all, how else can one possibly think about replacing a stolen item?

On average, seven in ten thefts of gadgets take place when a person is far away from their residence. And you’ll be amazed to learn how 40% of thefts linked to smartphones take place when using public transport.

People are going to grand events held at public places and that’s where you’ll bump into large crowds. You get the chance to meet new and old people and you never know who it is that might be eyeing your shiny new iPhone from a distance.

The spokesperson even added that the holiday season is about having fun and sharing glad tidings all around. However, you’ll be amazed to learn that the festive season makes people forget the common measures needed to keep theft at bay.

Read next: CNBC Surveys Americans About Their Views on Crypto And Most of the Results Are Negative
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World