Kevin Marks, co-founder of Microformats, argues that Twitter, Facebook and Google+ are causing an “infographic plague” because they won’t support HTML. The rise of so-called infographics has been out of control this year, though the term was unknown a couple of years ago. I attribute this to the favourable presentation that image links get within Facebook, followed by Twitter and Google plus, and of course though other referral sites like Reddit. By showing a preview of the image, the item is given extra weight over a textual link; indeed even for a url link, Facebook and G+ will show an image preview by default. Over at The Atlantic, Megan McArdle also tackles the infographic plague, showing how marketers are using them simply to drive traffic to whatever it is they’re selling, without regard for the actual data in them.  Image: Y U No Like HTML, Just PIX? by Kevin Marks.

Kevin Marks, co-founder of Microformats, argues that Twitter, Facebook and Google+ are causing an “infographic plague” because they won’t support HTML.

The rise of so-called infographics has been out of control this year, though the term was unknown a couple of years ago. I attribute this to the favourable presentation that image links get within Facebook, followed by Twitter and Google plus, and of course though other referral sites like Reddit. By showing a preview of the image, the item is given extra weight over a textual link; indeed even for a url link, Facebook and G+ will show an image preview by default.

Over at The Atlantic, Megan McArdle also tackles the infographic plague, showing how marketers are using them simply to drive traffic to whatever it is they’re selling, without regard for the actual data in them. 

Image: Y U No Like HTML, Just PIX? by Kevin Marks.

Blog comments powered by Disqus