ZDS-Services - Blog – Tools

The 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝘁The

🔜From 7 March, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) will come into force in the EU, changing the rules for large platforms. WhatsApp will have to interact with other chat services, and Apple will allow iPhone users to download apps from other app stores. The DMA is expected to create more competition by introducing rules for the so-called “gatekeepers” in order to break up the market position of large platforms.


🤔𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱?
The EU Commission identified 22 gatekeeper services from six companies, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google) and Meta (Facebook).

🤳𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗔𝗽𝗽:
Messages from other services should end up in a separate area to indicate different security standards. Whatsapp uses Signal’s encryption technology, which makes integration with other services easier.📱𝗔𝗽𝗽-𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗣𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲:
App developers have two options: Either continue to use Apple’s App Store and pay a 15 or 30 per cent levy, or switch to new terms with lower fees of 10 or 17 per cent plus 3 per cent when using Apple’s billing system.🌐𝗔𝗽𝗽-𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿:
Epic Games is planning its own iPhone download platform after Fortnite was banned from the App Store. Setapp, a subscription app marketplace, is also planning to launch in April. Spotify and Epic sharply criticise the new rules.

🙅‍♀️𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀:
Spotify criticises the new fee structure and the core technology levy as not DMA-compliant. Epic and Spotify also criticise that the new fees could prevent developers from distributing their apps via other stores.
🚫𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀:
The EU Commission can impose fines of up to 10 per cent of annual turnover for violations. Repeated violations could even be penalised with up to 20 percent. As a last resort, there is the option of breaking up the company, which could ultimately be decided by the courts

ZDS-Services - Blog – Social Media

New research project from Meta

Meta and the Center for Open Science (COS) are launching a research project to analyse user wellbeing on social media, a milestone in data research and behavioural analysis. This pilot project offers selected researchers access to privacy-compliant engagement data from Facebook and Instagram to better understand user behaviour and explore user wellbeing🤳.

 

Focus on user wellbeing & influence

The research focuses on the impact of social media on behavioural trends and is subject to a rigorous peer review process. This enables productive discussions on how user wellbeing can be improved 📈.

 

Cambridge Analytica scandal

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, Meta restricted its research collaborations and tightened data security measures to prevent data breaches 💰. The record $5bn fine by the FTC led to new privacy policies and measures to prevent similar abuses in the future.

 

Opportunities and challenges

Despite the incident, Cambridge-Analytica remains an important source of scientific knowledge due to its global user base 🌐. The renewed collaboration with academic groups under stricter data protection conditions demonstrates Meta’s commitment to scientific progress and the protection of user privacy 👩‍💻.

 

Outlook for pilot project

🤝The Meta-COS partnership is for two years, with the possibility of further details in the coming months. This agreement is a significant step for Meta, as it shows that the company wants to utilise its data volume for positive scientific purposes while learning from previous mistakes. The results could shape future collaboration between the company and the academic world 🌍.

ZDS-Services - Blog – Google

INP: Update from Google

Google is replacing FID in Core Web Vitals with INP, a new metric with different target values. Website operators should look at INP to improve the responsiveness of their website. 🔜 This change comes into force on 4 March 2024.

 

INP replaces FID👩‍💻

In 2021, the Core Web Vitals were introduced, which include three measures of a website’s user experience. The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) evaluates loading performance, the Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures stability, and previously the First Input Delay (FID) referred to interactivity. User-friendliness was considered good if the value was less than 100 milliseconds.

 

Target: Less than 200 milliseconds⏰

Ideally, a user click should be processed within 100 milliseconds in order to trigger the corresponding event handler. According to the Google website, different values now apply for INP: less than 200 milliseconds is considered good responsiveness, while values between 201 and 500 milliseconds signal a need for improvement. Over 500 milliseconds indicates poor responsiveness. Various tools are available to monitor these values, both from Google and from other providers. We have compiled an overview.

 

Tools🛠️

The Google Site Kit is the official tool and optimises WordPress websites by integrating various Google tools such as Pagespeed Insights.


Web Vitals is a Chrome extension for measuring web vitals. According to the description in the Chrome Web Store, it offers three core functions, including a drill-down in the pop-up.


Chrome Web Vitals Libary, available via GitHub, measures various web vitals data, focussing on data from actual visitors. It is particularly useful for acute website problems.


Debugbear monitors page speed by crawling the website to identify potential disruptive factors and provide optimisation suggestions.


Treo Site Speed is a free tool that checks the page speed by simply entering the URL. It also allows you to check other websites.

ZDS-Services - Blog – Technology

Digitalisation cushions slump

🤕The coronavirus pandemic not only led to psychological stress, but also caused considerable economic damage. According to a recent study by the Vodafone Institute and Prognos, increasing digitalisation in Germany between 2020 and 2022 could help to prevent a complete economic collapse in a similar way to government aid🌐.

📈The study is based on IW calculations, according to which value added in Germany could have been 420 billion euros higher between 2020 and 2022 without coronavirus. 🇺🇦Auch The effects of the war in Ukraine are taken into account, but play a subordinate role compared to the pandemic.

 

Increased with digitalisation

💰It was calculated that digitalisation increased gross domestic product by around 130 billion euros between 2020 and 2022, which contributed to mitigating the effects of coronavirus to a similar extent as state economic aid. These also totalled 130 billion euros, including grants, loans and guarantees. The calculations took into account industry-specific differences in digitalisation.

👥For example, digitalisation in information and communication technology prevented sales losses of 15 billion euros, while companies in transport or construction, which operate locally, benefited less from digitalisation.

👩‍💻Whilst strict coronavirus measures in winter and spring 2021, the greatest economic benefit of digitalisation was seen in working from home and e-commerce. With the lifting of most measures from summer 2022, the positive effect decreased again.

 

Bavaria particularly strong

🥨The Vodafone Institute and Prognos also measure the regional economic effects of network expansion in the “Innovation Index Germany”. 🥇Bavaria has continuously expanded its network more than the German average since 2010, especially in rural regions. In addition to large cities such as Munich, urban districts such as Erlangen have benefited more than average. In contrast, less densely populated districts in various regions, including Pforzheim, Münster and Kiel, are at the bottom of the rankings📉.

ZDS-Services - Blog – E-Commerce

4-days-week in Germany

New working time model: 45 German companies dare to try a four-day week!

Innovative experiment launched:
📊 Starting this week, 45 German companies are taking part in a pioneering pilot project on the four-day week. Despite initial concerns about possible salary losses, most employees are motivated to take part in the experiment.

Shorter working hours, higher productivity?
📈 The study aims to find out whether the introduction of the four-day week actually leads to an increase in productivity and what impact it has on employees’ work-life balance. The project, launched by the consulting agency Intraprenör, allows companies to participate on a voluntary basis.

Increasing attractiveness for companies:
🏢 Many companies are hoping that the introduction of the four-day week will make them more attractive to potential skilled workers. The 100-80-100 model, in which work is performed 80% of the time with the same pay, will be tested for six months.

Criticism and unanswered questions:
🤷‍♂️Trotz positive expectations, there is criticism of the 100-80-100 model, with the employers’ association BDA expressing concerns and doubting its suitability for German companies. There are still unanswered questions about possible long-term effects and the duration of the test.

🤔 What do you think of the idea of the four-day week? Do you see it as the future of the working world or are there still too many unanswered questions? Share your thoughts in the comments!

ZDS-Services - Blog – Google

Law changes Google search

🇪🇺 With the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU is driving forward changes for digital companies such as Google in order to limit its market power and ensure more balanced digital competition in the EU. Google has now provided insights into how these changes will affect the search engine.

🌐From 6 March, Google plans to make various adjustments, including obtaining additional consent for linked services. When using YouTube, for example, users will be asked whether they wish to continue to consent to data sharing, particularly in the context of personalised advertising. Without this consent, more non-skippable video ads could be displayed, especially for campaigns with pending clicks.

Google has also announced changes to the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Tests are to be carried out with various display formats and search results. The aim is to introduce special units that offer the user a list of links to comparison sites. This is intended to keep users on the Google page for longer before they are redirected to external partner sites.

📈With regard to Google Analytics, companies must implement Consent Mode v2 by 6 March in order to continue receiving valid data for their analyses. Daniel Tschirschwitz, Head of Performance Tracking & IT at Smarketer, warns of the loss of essential marketing functions such as retargeting and the possible legal consequences of non-implementation.
💬Consent mode is crucial for recording conversions that cannot otherwise be recorded due to a lack of consent to cookies.

🍪With the announced end of third-party cookies by Google, such data is becoming even more important. Although this step has been announced for some time, Google emphasises that it does not want to compromise the interests of advertisers too much.

ZDS-Services - Blog – Technology

Growth of the digital economy in Germany

Germanys digital economy outperforms overall economy:
The digital economy in Germany is flourishing compared to the economy as a whole. According to the economic forecast, a large number of new jobs will be created by the end of this year.

Job growth and industry comparison:
💼 Sales growth goes hand in hand with an increase in employment. 36,000 new jobs are expected to be created by 2024. According to Bitkom, the digital sector is currently Germany’s largest industrial employer. Information technology in particular is driving growth.
📈 Last year, turnover increased by 2.0% compared to 2022. An increase of 4.4% to 224.3 billion euros can be expected for 2024.
The so-called digital index, created for the digital economy, increased from 6.0 to 9.8 points.

Boom in IT:
🌐 Turnover in the information technology sector is forecast to reach 151.5 billion euros in 2024, an increase of 6.1%.
🧠 The software business is growing particularly strongly, as are platforms for software development. Artificial intelligence (AI) remains a key topic, with business with AI platforms expected to grow by as much as 38.3% to EUR 1.4 billion.

Outlook for AI in 2024:
❗ Bitkom President Wintergerst emphasizes that artificial intelligence will remain the top topic in 2024. Companies should actively engage with AI and invest in it. He appeals to politicians to “show a sense of proportion with the new European AI Act and ensure that AI can continue to be used and developed in Germany and Europe.”

We are therefore looking forward to the next few months and the coming year. Is Europe and Germany ready for this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! 💬

ZDS-Services - Blog – E-Commerce

Labour market 2024: what’s important

A current study, conducted by the career network Xing in cooperation with the opinion research institute Marketagent, sheds light on the key topics of the 2023 working year and takes a look at the trends in the labour market in 2024.

 

Skilled labour shortage challenge for the German economy

💼Changing market situation: more choice for employees, greater competition for employers. Around 62% of Germans see changed framework conditions, especially among the younger generations (Z: 70%, Y: 69%, baby boomers: approx. 55%).

The German economy is suffering from a massive shortage of skilled labour, which will become even more acute in the coming years due to demographic change. Employees will therefore become an exquisite commodity of the future, as the Xing labour market study shows.

 

What makes employers interesting

👩‍💻70% think a diverse culture is important. With regard to remote working, 61% believe that companies should create attractive workplaces with home office and office incentives.

⏰For 72%, flexibility plays a major role.

👨‍👩‍👦30% think in-house childcare is desirable for work-life balance.

💰Salary remains in first place, as around 90% consider it to be a decisive factor when choosing a job. New salary criteria are also popular.

👥One third of Germans could imagine a remuneration model that takes working hours, target achievement and experience into account. Women (39%) are more open to this than men (24%). At 76%, Gen Z attaches importance to mental well-being and at 61% to the sustainability of their employer.

 

Sectors with great prospects

🥇39 per cent of respondents believe that career prospects in the field of “health, care and social services” are good.

🥈In second place is the occupational field of “Renewable energies and climate” with 35 per cent.

🥉”Telecommunications and IT sector” in third place with 34 per cent.

In these sectors, employers are particularly challenged to make attractive offers in order to attract career changers.

 

What do you think about this topic? Let us know in the comments!✍️

ZDS-Services - Blog – Google

Google review of the year

🗞️As every year, there is the Google Year in Review, which shows what has moved users in Germany this year. When you think of 2023, what comes to mind? Everyone has their own highlight and yet there are topics that have moved us all.🤝

The Google Year in Review 2023 takes a multifaceted look at the headlines, personalities and issues that have moved users in Germany this year. In terms of headlines, the war in Israel and Gaza top the list, followed by earthquakes in Turkey, the Rammstein allegations and the lioness/wild boar in Berlin.🦁

👤International personalities who dominated the search queries were footballer Harry Kane, singer Taylor Swift and actor Jeremy Renner. In Germany, Till Lindemann, lead singer of the band Rammstein, was the top search for personalities.

🎬In terms of films, “Oppenheimer” was in first place, followed by “Barbie” and “Avatar 2”. Popular series were “Yesterday we were still children”, “Wednesday” and “One Piece”.🍿

Particularly striking was the interest in topics such as artificial intelligence and climate change, accompanied by questions such as “What is ChatGPT?” 🤖, “Climate protection – what can I do?” 🌍 and “Are climate stickers paid for?”. The general questions included questions such as “Why is Camilla Queen?” and “Why are cucumbers so expensive?”. The variety of search queries reflects the wide range of topics and events in 2023.🤔

Our favourite questions are clearly: “Why were fake lashes invented?” And “Why are cucumbers so expensive?”😄

We are curious what your highlight of 2023 was. Write it in the comments✍️.

ZDS-Services - Blog – Online Marketing

Farewell to third-party cookies

Browser manufacturers and operating system providers often focus on moving away from third-party cookies in order to protect user privacy. In 2024, Google could also take a decisive step towards the post-cookie era.

Legislation?⚖️
The discussion about the criticised third-party cookies on the Internet has been going on for five years. Initially it was hoped that EU legislation would be introduced, but browser providers and those responsible for operating systems were quicker to act. Apple launched the anti-tracking initiative, followed by Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome. As part of its data protection sandbox initiative, Google emphasised that sensible alternatives for advertising customers should first be created before cookies were abolished. However, various solutions for advertising performance monitoring failed due to EU laws or required additional technical conditions, as was the case with the FLoC disaster. As a result, the end date for the abolition of third-party cookies was gradually postponed. The time will soon be ripe.

Deactivation very carefully ⚠️
Google is planning a cautious test phase with one per cent of users from the beginning of 2024 to identify web compatibility problems. The aim is to avoid possible disruptions to the user experience and not scare off advertisers. Google intends to introduce temporary solutions to mitigate potential disruptions. The exact criteria for the use of approved cookies remain unclear, but by the third quarter they are expected to disappear from more and more installations.

Don’t scare off advertising customers👩‍💻
Google is taking the changeover slowly in order to spare companies the loss of important information for advertising and marketing analyses. Nevertheless, companies are already flying blind, as around a third of users can no longer be tracked correctly for various reasons. Advertisers should therefore use Google’s Privacy Sandbox API to serve personalised advertising. This underlines the long-standing recommendation from experts to explore alternative solutions at an early stage and gradually switch to more modern tracking methods.

What do you think about the 3rd party farewell? Let us know in the comments! ✍️