Shady infographics abound
If you’ve been on the internet for more than five minutes, you’ve probably come across an infographic or two that has taught you a great deal of information, but sometimes, that information is largely unverified and stats are pulled from blogs and news outlets with little to no attribution. Consumers are left to hope the information is accurate, or at least timely, but most of the time, the internet simply hits the embed or share button and goes on blind faith that the information is legitimate.
Last year, we addressed the perils of infographics and why we choose not to use them on our site unless they lend something extraordinary to a story, especially given that bait and switch linking practices of irrelevant companies and blogs.
Why then is there an emerging trend of setting infographic to video and using them on YouTube? The trend is young, but catching on. Perhaps it is because flying the graphics in makes them more visually appealing? It does not however, make them any more reliable. Many infographics tend to be traps. Companies use them to draw people in and lead them to their own products without verifying the information they put out is 100 percent true and accurate, as well as without citing the source from which it came.
This is not to say that there are not some great infographics out there, they just seem to be few and far between lately. Because all businesses want to make their information appealing, informative, and easily accessible and infographics can do this by placing mundane information into a more enjoyable format. However, the majority of current infographics seem to be a bunch of invalidated statistics, crammed together in one space, and presented as facts. Infographics can be used in marketing materials, journalism, and retail quite effectively, so long as they are accurate. Here is a good example of an effective infographic. It is cited, visually appealing, and not trying too hard to draw you in.
What makes a good infographic or video?
A good infographic has data that is reliable, verified, and relevant to your overall content theme. It should tell a story, succinctly stating the problem, issue, or message and offer a solution. It also needs to have a consistent and appealing design; a color theme and structure, fonts, and graphics that all mesh well together.
If you keep these things in mind, you can steer clear of misleading infographics and enjoy and create ones that will keep people interested in your business and products.
Below is an example of a quality video (aka not shady) to mark the trend of graphics going to video, and it is notable, as it uses only original research to the company:
[pl_video type=”youtube” id=”yWpV8BCp4Kc”]
