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Visualizing the Length of the Fine Print, for 14 Popular Apps

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length of terms of service agreements

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Terms of Service: The Length of Common Digital Contracts

Do you take the time to read the terms of service before you agree to when downloading the latest app or software?

Of course you do…

The world is awash with apps and internet services that ask potential users to agree to a service agreement. Most people click on ‘agree’ and move on, knowing that reading the service agreements could put them to sleep and defer their favorite internet fix.

Taking inspiration from designer Dima Yarovinsky’s project titled I Agree, today’s post visualizes the length of service agreements, by counting the words and calculating how long it would take users to read each one.

Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That

The average reading speed of most adults is 200 to 250 words per minute (wpm). College students, probably because they are very studious and not skimming, move that pace up to around 300 words per minute. For the sake of this analysis, we calculated reading times based on 240 wpm.

App/ServiceWord CountHow many minutes to read? (240 wpm)
Microsoft15,26063.5
Spotify8,60035.8
Niantic (Pokemon Go)8,46635.2
TikTok7,45931.4
Apple (Media Services)7,31430.5
Zoom6,89128.7
Tinder6,21525.9
Slack5,78224.1
Uber5,65823.6
Twitter5,63323.5
Bumble5,44222.7
Snapchat4,93520.6
Linkedin4,34618.1
Facebook4,13217.2
Google3,45914.4
Amazon3,41614.2
YouTube3,30813.7
Reddit3,26713.6
Dropbox2,70411.3
Netflix2,62811.0
Instagram2,4519.7

The service agreement for Microsoft stands out at the top of the list with an agreement that would take over an hour to read — a bit less time than it would take to read Shakespeare’s Macbeth. To be fair, this service agreement does seem to cover the company’s entire suite of products.

These agreements are an insight into the legal mumbo jumbo that exists when it comes to regulating the use of these apps. There are a multitude of agreements that go even further into depth about what rules govern developers, online cash transactions and much more. The average American would need to set aside almost 250 hours to properly read all the digital contracts they accept while using online services.

Regardless, users may feel like they are wasting time reviewing a contract that can neither change or refuse—or more vitally, even comprehend.

Not All Text is Equal: The Flesch Reading-Ease Test

Apparently dealing with some of his own textual frustration, a Dr. Rudolf Flesch observed that some text, in particular legal language, appeared to be written to make reading as difficult as humanly possible.

Long sentences filled with arcane words can drag out simple sentences and discourage comprehension. Flesch wanted to measure the variability in reading comprehension — and by studying different kinds of writing, he developed a formula to determine readability and forever scorn lawyers.

In the Flesch Reading-Ease test, higher scores indicate material that is easier to read. Lower numbers mark passages that are more difficult to read. The formula for the Flesch Reading-Ease Score (FRES) test is:

Flesch Reading Ease Test

The readability score uses two metrics:

  1. The numbers of words per sentence
  2. The number of syllables per word

Based on this score, a text would correspond to a particular education level.

ScoreGradeAvg. Words per sentenceSyllables per 100 words
100-905th grade8123
90.0-80.06th grade11131
90.0-70.07th grade14139
70.0-60.08th and 9th grade17147
60.0-50.010 to 12th grade21155
50.0-30.0College25167
30.0-0.0College graduate29192

So how do the service agreements in our sample rank in terms of the Flesch Reading-Ease test?

App/ServiceFlesch Reading Ease ScoreEquivalent Grade Level
Facebook5610 to 12th grade
Google5610 to 12th grade
Instagram5410 to 12th grade
Linkedin5410 to 12th grade
Microsoft5410 to 12th grade
Snapchat5410 to 12th grade
Dropbox5110 to 12th grade
Bumble50College level
YouTube50College level
Reddit48College level
Apple Media Services47College level
Tinder46College level
Amazon45College level
Netflix45College level
TikTok44College level
Spotify44College level
Zoom42College level
Uber40College level
Twitter39College level
Niantic (Pokemon Go)39College level
Slack36College level

While not the most difficult to read, they definitely include a fair amount of legalese that helps discourage reading. The length and the difficulty of reading these agreements makes them practically useless to the average person.

This is a problem because it undermines basic concepts of contracts and informed consent. Users are giving up their rights without their knowledge.

Terms of Service: You Are the Product

These apps and software are the forefront of the data collection for a multi-billion dollar industry.

Individual user activity and information get easily collected and stored, creating databases of user patterns. This type of behavioral information makes marketers salivate, allowing them target their products to their ideal audience at lower costs than traditional advertising.

Do you know what you have agreed to?

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Technology

The World’s Biggest Cloud Computing Service Providers

Cloud computing service providers generated $270 billion in revenues last year, concentrated among a few giants.

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This tree map shows the biggest cloud computing service providers globally by market share.

The World’s Biggest Cloud Computing Service Providers

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Today, the three largest cloud computing service providers command 66% of the global market.

Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have generated billions in revenues through their cloud infrastructure that provide the computing power companies need to store data. What’s more, most AI models are run on the cloud, creating a surge in computing demand for cloud providers.

The above graphic shows the largest cloud providers globally, based on data from Synergy Research Group.

Breaking Down the Cloud Market

Here are the world’s top cloud computing service providers based on enterprise revenues as of the fourth quarter of 2023:

ProviderCountryMarket Share Q4 2023
Amazon Web Services🇺🇸 U.S.31%
Microsoft Azure🇺🇸 U.S.24%
Google Cloud🇺🇸 U.S.11%
Alibaba Cloud🇨🇳 China4%
Salesforce🇺🇸 U.S.3%
IBM Cloud🇺🇸 U.S.2%
Oracle🇺🇸 U.S.2%
Tencent Cloud🇨🇳 China2%
Other🌐 Other21%

With 31% of the global market share, Amazon’s cloud division posted $24.2 billion in revenues over the quarter.

AWS is a major cash engine for the company, but growth slowed over 2023 as enterprises and startups cut back on tech spending. Annual sales growth compared to the same quarter last year grew by 13%—far below competitors Microsoft and Google, whose cloud divisions grew by 30% and 26%, respectively.

As we can see, U.S. firms make up the lion’s share of the market, while China’s Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud together comprise 5% of the global share.

The AI Boom and the Cloud

Given that a significant chunk of AI models are run on the cloud, the industry may be positioned to see greater demand as momentum accelerates.

In fact, newer AI systems are as much as 10 to 100 times larger than older models. In line with this, major cloud providers are seeing high demand for cloud services to allow companies across financial to manufacturing sectors to run large language models on their platforms.

Today, 98% of companies globally rely on the cloud for at least one part of their business applications, which may present a market opportunity for the industry as advancements in AI continue to grow.

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