According to LinkedIn, this quarter alone they have seen growth in both total number of users as well as interactions on their site. In just two months, LinkedIn has grown over 15 million users reaching a staggering 690 million users on their platform to date. As far as site usage is concerned, users have been using LinkedIn 26% more now than they ever have before. The main reason for this is COVID-19. As we all know unemployment is higher than it has ever been and may even reach nearly 20% by the time all of this is over.

This creates a sense of urgency in finding a job that is willing to pay enough to support their family during this time of crisis. With LinkedIn being one of the primary ways to find a job and make connections, their site has seen a surge like never before all because people are desperate right now and in search of anything. Both, LinkedIn and their users are benefiting from this. While LinkedIn’s services are creating job opportunities for many Americans, their profits are also through the roof. This year alone, LinkedIn’s revenue has grown a staggering 21% which is an absurd amount in such a small period of time. All in all, I think LinkedIn is more useful than ever at this time and their services are helping people in need everyday during this time of crisis that we are facing.

Building a website can be a daunting task. This semester alone I’ve had to create two sites, one being this one. But, besides this semester I have had the task of creating a few before. Moral of the story is, creating an appealing site that attracts a variety of demographics is nearly impossible and only the best of the best have the exact formula to get it right. Luckily, an article by Mark Walker-Ford has been published and it lays out the science behind building a site from the ground-up. In the article it describes what WebFX, a website design team, has discovered through the psychology of humans and their behaviors. One of the first things that they stated was, “84.7% of people cite color as the primary reason they buy a particular product.” For some reason, this doesn’t surprise me at all. I know that from personal experience I like to shop at websites that are very clean and modern, like apple. A lot of people think the same as well. A lot of times websites like to crowd their pages and use obnoxious colors and people don’t want that. Ease of access is one of the biggest things for young consumers.

THey broke it down like this:

As you can see the team at WebFX went above and beyond with breaking down what colors affect certain emotions in certain ways. I personally wish that I had this information available before I had to create some of my own sites. These charts alone will allow young web designers to directly affect people in certain ways without the years of experience that some of the masters of web design have.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/color-psychology-in-web-design-how-to-choose-the-best-color-scheme-for-you/576772/

Last week news broke that Apple and Google have entered into a partnership which will allow health authorities to better track to movement and spreading of the COVID-19 virus. This partnership will also notify people when they’ve been near/come in contact with anyone who has contracted the virus.

This partnership works because:

• Apple and Google will be creating a software that combines both Apple and Android services so one central server can track locations based off of bluetooth.
• Health Authorities will be able to use this software to create Apps that can trace which users have been in close contact with one another.
• Users who have contracted COVID-19 will be given a code by health advisors that they can plug into the app and alerts all users who have come in contact with them to self quarantine before it is too late.

Google provided this image as an example:

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This software has huge potential and a huge range of coverage with nearly 4 billion Apple and Android users worldwide.

Although this seems like a huge step forward, there are many people who feel that if this software isn’t properly managed, then peoples safety and security can be in really dangerous hands. Also, another huge problem is that the app is optional, so if you’re the only one in the room with the app, it is virtually useless. It will be very interesting to see where Apple and Google decide to take this in the upcoming weeks especially if they can’t get users to download the app due to privacy concerns. Personally, it is a little scary giving your location away to people you don’t know, but tough times call for drastic measures and I would be willing to sacrifice some of my privacy for the well-being of the other people in the world.

This week Instagram has given their Laptop and Computer users a new experience within their site with the addition of DM’s and Live Streams. Since the Stay at Home Orders have come into affect, communication and entertainment has been at the forefront of everyone’s minds, including Instagram’s. With this new change, users that don’t have Instagram as an app on their phone are allowed to Direct Message other people now as well as tune into their favorite persons live streams whenever they go live. This is huge for Instagram because before this week, only mobile App users had access to everything the site offers, but now everyone does if they want it. This new desktop version offers you features that aren’t considered when using the mobile version such as the live chat is off to the side and so are the comments. This is awesome because even though the desktop view is compressed like it is on mobile, you don’t get half the video blocked due to the live chat scrolling on the bottom half of the screen. Personally knowing this now, I am going to use the desktop version whenever I watch a live now due to the chat bar not being in the way.

Another great feature of the desktop update is the promotability you gain with desktop. Before if you wanted to share a link to your live, it wasn’t possible. Now that lives are compatible with desktop, the creators are able to copy and paste the link from the desktop and put it anywhere they want for fans to click on and tune into the stream. In my opinion this is huge and I am sure that a lot of influencers who use Instagram a lot are extremely happy with this new update. All in all, kudos to Instagram. They have finally figured out a way for people to promote themselves past their profile and it covers all mediums of consumption.

This week Youtube has decided to take what is posted on their website a little more serious. Youtube confirmed that they will lower the amount of recommendations and distribution of videos that support conspiracy theories around the COVID-19 outbreak and 5G technology. That’s right, 5G. According to The Guardian, out of the UK, people are attacking cell phone towers and burning them down because of a theory that states 5G helps spread the COVID-19. In my opinion it is absolutely ridiculous that people would ever believe a theory that says the COVID-19 spreads through 5G cell towers. How dumb could you be? Not only did they believe that, but they are also destroying infrastructure around them that allows them to contact help if needed and also communicate with family.

This theory originates at the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China. It is believed that since Wuhan was one of the first cities with full 5G coverage, the virus was spread even faster through the 5G network which caused the massive outbreak. Clearly this is a crazy thing to think and it is crazy to me how moldable people really are in a time of crisis like this. It also doesn’t help that famous actor Woody Harrelson backed up this theory by reposting it to his millions of fans globally. Thanks Woody! All in all, I don’t know how something like this could ever be believed and I am glad that scientists globally have shut this theory down right away.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has pledged to donate $1 billion of his equity to Smart Small LLC in order to fund the COVID-19 relief efforts that they are making. The main focus of his $1 billion is for girls health and education. I can really respect this and I am glad that his money is going to make an actual impact on a group of people that truly need help right now.

Dorsey says, “This contribution will help Twitter and Square in the long run because they are helping the people that they want using their site.” To me this can be misconstrued due to the fact that this is a crisis and it seems as if they might be taking advantage of it to benefit themselves in a way.

Dorsey also stated that, “He hopes his efforts spark more large donations from billionaires around the world.” Although a lot of celebrities have been extremely quiet during these times, some are taking the same steps as Dorsey, like Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook to flatten this curve as fast as possible . These contributions of wealthy individuals need to continue if we want to take care of the COVID-19 as best as possible and I think that they will. Only time will tell what is going to happen with all of this stuff, but it is reassuring that there are people out there that care enough to donate millions of dollars.

WhatsApp just announced that it is restricting message forwarding to combat the rise of misinformation campaigns about COVID-19 and the issues surrounding the virus. With this new restriction, WhatsApp is limiting the amount of groups you can share certain articles with. As long as your articles come from credible sources, WhatApp won’t flag the message and have it removed. Facebook is doing something similar, but instead they are using groups to share reliable information and statistics on their homepage. These new restrictions stem from previous restrictions that WhatsApp had put in place last year. This is comforting to me because the spread of misinformation is what causes chaos and panic especially with how many people are online and can fall into believing the wrong things.

Company Executives said that, “There was a time when users could forward to 256 people at a time, but with recent times the app has been a weapon for misinformation campaigns, which have caused a lot of damage.” This is really scary to me. The fact that so much damage can be done through an App that is supposed to be for connecting with friends is not okay and I am glad that WhatsApp has noticed this and put an end to it.

Zoom is a media service that allows you have meetings and conversations through the use of your webcam and computer. With the recent pandemic, Zoom has become increasingly popular with all of the large universities around the nation using it to conduct Lectures and discussions about the class. With this increase in popularity, Zoom has had serious problems with hackers hacking into peoples meetings and getting personal information as well as taking over the meeting and displaying inappropriate content.

This is a huge problem because a lot of large companies are currently using this which can lead to secret information being leaked as well as all of the younger kids using it with their teachers and hackers going in and displaying pornographic content on the screens which exposes young kids to negative influences. Zoom has pledged to restructure their security steps in a fashion that will keep their near 200 million users safe while using their services. All in all, I think that this is Zooms responsibility and they need to fix this issue fast before it keeps getting worse and consumers start to not trust them. Overall, I think Zoom will have this handled because losing the consumers that they have already gained through all of this would be detrimental to their company.

With the recent pandemic and business’s shutting down all around the world, LinkedIn has decided to step up and help its users to remain calm and stay mindful through these tough times. Linkedin has released 6 free online courses that provide mental health and mindfulness guidance to people who are having trouble with their at home and work life due to the recent COVID-19. Researchers say that the effects of the current lockdowns can and will have a significant impact on people. Not being able to do your everyday basic things like seeing people face-to-face, going to work, and being confined to your home can really take a toll on your body.

Linkedin released these articles for anyone to be able to access and practice mindfulness:

• Mindfulness Practices
• The Mindful Workday
• Mindful Meditations for Work and Life
• Manage Stress for Positive Change
• How to Manage Feeling Overwhelmed
• Balancing Work and Life

All in all, Linkedin has done their part in protecting the peace and tranquility of people globally with their free videos that they are offering to users.

This week Instagram has released their “Stay Home” stickers in order to encourage people to stay inside and at home during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Critics aren’t too sure if these stickers are actually making a difference, but Instagram keeps releasing new ones which makes it seem as if they are working. Instagram’s “Stay Home” stickers started off as an individual thing, but now Instagram is making it a community filter so that everyone can see each others “Stay Home” stories. I personally like this feature because it further promotes being safe and staying inside right now in this time of crisis and it also shows people that they aren’t alone and that together we can get through this one step at a time. With the extreme seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak and the crazy amount of young people that aren’t taking it seriously whatsoever, Instagram is stepping up big time to promote the proper safety measures that need to be taken to flatten the curve of this virus, while still giving their users an enjoyable platform to use to communicate and share photos on. Especially because Instagram reaches such a young audience, they are on the front lines when it comes to young kids and remaining safe globally.