Here Are the Habits and Tools That Can Make Creatives Successful

The ability to think creatively has become a highly useful skill in the modern world. Plenty of creative professionals are able to leverage their talents to earn incredible incomes, but in spite of the fact that this is the case there are certain habits and tools that can definitely help them to earn a lot more than might have been the case otherwise.

Skynova recently conducted a survey of 335 professionals who are working in creative industries. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there were quite a few habits that creatives took part in which happened to correlate with higher levels of income.

For example, creative professionals who tried to immerse themselves in nature as part of their creative process ended up earning upwards of $27,000 more than their peers who didn’t do anything of the sort. Similarly, waking up with your alarm instead of hitting the snooze button was also reported by professionals who earn approximately $20,000 more than their counterparts who have trouble getting up.

Interestingly, it appears that using an Android phone camera was also correlated with significantly higher rates of reported income. Creatives who used Android earned over $17,000 more than those who used iPhones, though correlation does not always imply causation so there might be a lot more to it with all things having been considered and taken into account.

The manner in which creative professionals defined success can also vary based on the individual. 20% of creatives said that a solid work-life balance was a key aspect of them feeling like they were truly successful. 17% pointed to their salary, which makes sense because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up acting as the most straightforward indicator of personal success.

Happiness also mattered to 15% of creatives, with a similar proportion, 15%, saying the same for financial stability. 14% apiece prioritized their personal health, sharing knowledge, truth of expression and having a flexible work life as being hallmarks of their success.

This survey also highlighted some of the habits and activities that creatives felt could lead to higher rates of success in the long run. 39% of creatives said that learning was a constant pursuit that really helped them to become more successful in their careers. 32% cited the importance of collaboration, 27% said the same of continued education and 27% also said that making it a habit to write helped them achieve great success.

Optimizing your leisure activities can also be an incredibly useful way to make your chances of success higher down the line. 34% of creatives cited reading as one of their favorite activities, and 31% even stated that daydreaming was a popular pastime! That is fairly understandable since daydreaming can be a very active process that can allow you to come up with some ideas.

29% also said that they like to seek out new experiences, with 24% saying that they prefer to enjoy at least some of their leisure time in solitude. It’s quite clear that creatives use several different ways to reset their minds before a project.

Read next: 69% of People Think Their Workplace is Toxic
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

The UK Has One of the Lowest Level of Trust in Journalists in the World

The recent crises that the world has been embroiled in have had a lot of different types of consequences. One of the biggest byproducts of these crises is that trust in journalism is at an all time low. A report that was recently published by Press Gazette revealed the extent to which public sentiment has turned against news outlets all around the world.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that British people seem to have among the lowest level of trust in journalists based on this report. Only 37% of the Brits who responded to this survey said that they trust journalists. Quite surprisingly, this is actually a bit of an uptick from the proportion that was seen just a couple years ago when 35% said the same.

Also, the UK isn’t alone in having a uniquely low level of trust in journalists. Things are even worse in Japan where just 34% of people said that they trust what journalists have to say, and South Korea is at the very bottom of the list with just 27%. South Korea’s journey has been especially notable since trust in journalists has dropped 6 points in 2 years from 33%.

As for the top of the list, China appears to be sitting pretty with 79%. This is a bit difficult to trust, though, since the Chinese government is known for being authoritarian so any data coming out of there needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Following China we have Indonesia with 72%, Thailand with 67%, Kenya with 63% and India with 62%. It’s pretty interesting that people in developing countries have a higher level of trust in journalists. That might indicate that developed countries either have people who are more prone to trusting conspiracy theories or they are experienced enough to know when journalists might be lying.

Journalists appear to be among the least trusted professionals out there, with only 47% of survey respondents saying that they trust them in a global survey. The only profession that ranked lower was that of politicians who got a measly score of just 41% which highlights a serious crisis of confidence that world leaders are facing right now.

So, if people don’t trust journalists as much as they used to, who do they turn to in order to stay up to date on current events? Well, social media isn’t much of a contender since only 41% of people said that they trust it as a source of news. That’s way lower than journalists, so it’s fairly unlikely that social media will become anyone’s primary news source anytime soon.

Surprisingly, it appears that search engines and traditional media appear to be the most trusted news sources as of right now. 63% of survey respondents said that they trust search engines as a source of news, and 59% of them said the same for social media.

It appears that people who directly follow journalists on social media might not trust them for news. Instead, they prefer news that has been filtered through an editorial process and potentially fact checked.

Read next: 54% of Children Are Exposed to Inappropriate Adult Content by 13
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Pinterest Posts Its Q4 And Full Year Earnings Of 2022 With Steady Rise In Users And Revenue

Pinterest has published its earnings call for Q4 and all of 2022 and the results are not disappointing.

The leading social media platform has highlighted a slow but steady increase in the likes of users as well as revenue while building up further on different offerings.

For starters, the company has gone on to add 5 million more users and most of them hailing from the likes of Europe. This took place during the latter part of 2022. And clearly, it’s a change that many people in the firm are going to welcome for obvious reasons.

"Q4 revenue grew 4% year over year to $877 million. 2022 revenue increased 9% year over year to $2,803 million." reveals Pinterest in its latest press release. Adding that "Global Monthly Active Users (MAUs) increased 4% year over year to 450 million."

Remember, the tech giant had reported a lot of users during the start of 2021 and that’s when the whole pandemic boom in eCommerce began to take center stage. Moreover, this is also where Pinterest surged with record-high figures in terms of its own users.

Meanwhile, so many analysts as well as businesses appeared to be super convinced that the boost due to COVID in the world of shopping online would stay, despite the pandemic coming to an end. Furthermore, this is what caused several other big names in the industry like Amazon, Google, and Meta to churn out huge investments to bring about major commerce solutions.

Sadly, most of the employees that happened to be looking after these departments were pulled out due to massive lay-offs to cut down on costs amid the economic downturn. After all, physical stores were opening and people were going back to their usual shopping trends as compared to continue relying upon different options seen online.

Pinterest really felt the heat over there and now, it’s working twice as hard to bring back losses encountered and increase the momentum by refining solutions linked to various shopping behaviors and that entails video content as well.

We have to say that one of the biggest winners in this aspect is the Idea of Pins, stories, and the display seen full-screen. The clear emphasis on such formats assists in boosting the app’s overall appeal with the younger lot as Pinterest reports how Generation Z is one of the quickest-growing demographics on the app. Figures went up by double digits YoY.

And the platform also reports sessions from Generation Z growing at a faster pace than those seen with older demographics. More than half of the video content set out on the platform was also pinned during this quarter by users of the Gen Z subgroup.

Read next: Pinterest Publishes Its Annual Predictions Overview That Highlights The Growing Trends For 2023

by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

69% of People Think Their Workplace is Toxic

America is currently undergoing a phenomenon that has been dubbed The Great Resignation. People are quitting their jobs far more often than they ever have in the past, and it turns out that 40% of people are considering switching to a new job in 2023 with all things having been considered and taken into account.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that workplace unhappiness might be one of the leading causes of The Great Resignation. According to a poll conducted by ARRIS Composites, 26% of people have reported that they are not satisfied with their current jobs.

30% of workers also stated that they feel undervalued at their current place of employment, which is something that can make them less likely to stick around than might have been the case otherwise. It should be mentioned that women seem to be having a somewhat rougher time of it than men. 25% of men reported feeling undervalued, whereas 33% of women said the same.

69% of people went so far as to say that they have worked in a toxic environment in the past, with 25% saying that they are currently tied to such a workplace. 73% intimated that they would feel much more comfortable working for an employer that considers company culture to be a priority, so this is likely going to be something that they go looking for when they search for new and hopefully better jobs.

More competitive salaries might be an even bigger priority for those who are on the hunt for jobs. 62% are leaving their current jobs in the hopes that the new one will provide them with a salary that’s more in line with market rates, and 29% said that they hope to be able to see some upward mobility in their new roles.

All in all, it appears that people are leaving their jobs for a myriad understandable reasons. Employers would do well to address these concerns, otherwise they will have a hard time staying competitive in an increasingly stressful labor market.

Read next: Hybrid Work Might Not Be Suitable for Introverts According to This Report
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Videos Top The List In Online Content But Guest Articles Are More Popular, Claims New Study

You may have heard a lot of studies talk about which form of online content ranks the best among all the others out there today. And thanks to one study, we’re getting more insight into this.

Videos may be crowned as the winners in terms of online content for various editors out there today. But you might want to know that articles written by guests are actually more popular than all others.

This study comes to us by Influence & Co whose report titled The State of Contributed Content is really making it big as we speak.

Plenty of editors were polled and around 97.5% of them felt they had to publish more and more content produced by guests this year. And that is an increase from the 93% witnessed in another survey from 2021. Today, 86% are publishing one guest post every week while just 13% of them feature no content of this sort.

Editors added how they expect to publish so many types of this content in the year 2023 where videos were leading the list, followed by Podcasts and Newsletters falling closely behind.

Webinars stood at fourth place while the top five were completed by the likes of Infographics. Check-ins on Twitter and others were followed up in the list too.

This particular study was based on the likes of a recently conducted survey and it featured around 46 different publications online by various editors. But we’d like to remind you that it only serves as one snapshot of the entire endeavor.

There were thousands of other pieces that had been reviewed and it was highlighted how headline word counts for most of the shared pieces was around 10.5 while the average count for words stood at 792.

For social shares of various types of content, the day where most leads were achieved included Wednesday while Tuesday and Thursday came second with a tie. The worst day for posting content was headlined to be Saturday, followed up closely by Sunday.

The editors also laid out some guidelines on what they felt would be the best attributes linked to guest content.

This includes productions of superior quality and those that are non-promotional. Meanwhile, the topic being the right fit for a publication’s readership is also important as is one that shares all forms of original insights. It’s better if these are on a more expert level and give a look at the real world, more than anything else.

Read next: How many former employees from the world's biggest companies now run their own businesses?
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

What could go wrong with sharing passwords with a partner?

According to ExpressVPN’s latest survey, people between the ages of early teens and forty-two have a common practice of sharing passwords with their partners. According to the data, almost 81 percent of Americans share their credentials with the person they are in a relationship with.

The data being shared by these committed partners could range from their location to banking details, social media platforms, or video streaming applications. Based on the survey, it was observed that sharing such information may vary from place to place.

Those U.S. citizens who did not participate in this practice have their reasons, such as using the same credentials for different platforms. Wanting to keep things personal in case things don’t work out between them. Fear of losing privacy and not wanting their partner to keep a check on them.

Most couples who took part in the survey said that they were ready to share credentials before marriage, while 35 percent of them were ready to share them after getting married. Sharing passwords for video streaming sites such as Netflix was the most common among couples, followed by bank credentials and passwords for social media applications.

When asked how sharing such information helps them with the relationship, responses were that forty-four percent of them believed it will help them to save money, making the relationship more transparent with thirty-five percent of the vote, and to prove loyalty and trust with thirty-one percent and thirty-three percent, respectively.

Another common piece of personal information shared between a couple is the other’s location. Sharing locations doesn’t require sharing passwords. It is shared only to ensure that the other person is safe or to test their truthfulness or trustworthiness.

It was also revealed that almost 46 percent of the men feared that if they didn’t share their credentials, their partners would think they were hiding something.

Twelve percent of the survey participants regretted sharing passwords with their ex, as they would still use video streaming services (44 percent), check up on social media sites (39 percent), and bank information (17 percent). While almost 30 percent believed their ex would still use their passwords to see what they were doing, this is why it is advised to change credentials as early as possible while enabling multifactor authentication to make accounts more secure.

The survey included two thousand people belonging to different countries, including France, Germany, the U.K., and the USA.

Read next: Hacked Streaming Accounts Are Being Sold On Dark Web For Around $11 Each
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Microsoft Is Ready To Give Its Edge Browser A Dreaded Discover Feature For Recommended Content

For a while now, we’ve seen some great reports about Microsoft’s Edge browser and how so much work is being done in this regard.

And most of it has been positive including the likes of introducing productivity features, enhanced password managers, and also a reimagining initiative which is set for launch soon.

But among that, there is news about a new and upcoming change that many call out as the worst one that a browser could ever receive. This is in the form of a new button called Discover that was first noticed by insiders at the company working for its Dev & Canary channel.

Crictics eyeing the decision taken by Microsoft for the launch claim there is nothing more wrong that can be done than the launch of this initiative. Moreover, they feel everything about it is incorrect.

For starters, the feature is set on the exact location where the Menu button was once present. Therefore, one attempt to open this browser would give rise to plenty of other annoying misclicks.

Secondly, there are plenty of questionable visuals that would end up taking users away from the whole clear-cut and simple icon that we’re accustomed to seeing on a usual basis. The design is minimal and it distracts people away, thanks to it being bright purple in color.

Yes, it’s quite similar to the rest of the sidebar, it’s not getting smaller. And it’s a part of the only feature that users can’t reposition or get rid of from this toolbar.

• Also read: Consumers Prefer Using Banking Apps For Financial Transactions, New Study Proves

The Discover feature also opens ‘on hover’ and not when a user opts to click on it. In case you forgot, people hated the thought of Windows by Microsoft launching features like News and Interesting and Widgets opening up in a similar manner. Therefore, after getting all those negative reviews, it had to make plenty of amendments and reconsiderations. And what we got, in the end, was the option to click and people were happy.

But clearly, despite going down that road, it appears the software giant is yet to learn from its great lessons. This tab opens up on the likes of hover or click and even if you detest it, there’s nothing that could be done.

For now, the insiders at the company are not happy, and considering the fact that it’s yet to be launched for the masses, this is certainly some concerning news. Did we mention how insider forums on Edge are getting plenty of heated comments about this too?

Read next: StatCounter released the market share report for web browsers, with Google Chrome leading the chart in January 2023
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World