With the continuous growth of the internet, digital media has become a major output for news, being an essential platform for journalists to share their work. Whilst written content is still popular for audiences, images have been becoming increasingly more common within the news. An important element of digital media is infographics, specifically in relation to word stories and social media.
Infographics are visual representations of information, that are commonly seen online on platforms such as Instagram. Infographics are usually shared on Instagram stories to spread factual information about a range of different topics. They are an effective tool for journalists, being an efficient way to connect with target audiences. On social media, infographics are one of the best ways to connect with audiences compared to other content. On sites such as Instagram, they give incentive to audiences to click through profiles and come across more of your content, increasing the spreadability of other works. There’s more to an infographic than fun images and pretty colours, to be effective they need to encourage viewers to read and learn, and most importantly to act.
On instagram, the type of infographics that tend to be popular relate to lifestyle and health content and also worldwide political events or movements.
My experience with infographics have been rather pleasant, as to me personally it feels like a fun creative way to share information. I enjoyed creating something informative in a more visual way. Although I did find it quite challenging in deciding how much information to include. I was worried over whether not having enough writing would lack in information but on the other hand having too much writing would be too overwhelming for viewers. However I realised that I was overthinking things and tried to just keep the infographics as simple as possible whilst still capturing what I wanted to share. I think infographics is a great way for journalists to create stories in a fresh new way, and to be fantastic creative outlet.
From looking online, one news company that does infographics well is Al Jazeera, that commonly integrate them within word stories. A certain story in particular is “Infographic: The UK’s royal line of succession explained” with its visual’s being simple and easy to understand.
I think this particular story has great examples of infographics as they are simple and easy to understand yet capture the information needed to be explained.
Overall, I think in these new times of digital media, infographics are leading the way in aiding stories visually through its growing popularity online.
