1. What does the White House’s new photography policy tell us about the opportunity for brand building? Read my new piece over at Harvard Business Review on the visual web’s latest victory: the White House selfie.
2. How does do Americans’ internet access and usage correlate with age? Pew has released a new report on Americans’ internet access 2000-2015. Notable findings include that a clear majority of 58% seniors now use the internet — while the overall percentage is lower, it’s rising quickly (see also: Facebook). Class and educational attainment remain access factors but are shrinking.
3. The first few years of widespread access to MOOCs have created a data trove for researchers. Ed tech thinker Justin Reich launched a series of posts on seven observations based on  research during his time at HarvardX. The first one: MOOC students are diverse, but trend toward autodidacts.
4. Google released a real-time trends feature to provide live data on the 100 billion searches conducted each month. Scroll down to see the curated data sets Google has made available, and the visualizations created from them.
5. What’s the digital talent gap in marketing today? This post outlines the in-demand skills for the hybrid marketer, which include social, mobile, and data/analytics skills along with a deep understanding the role of content. With all the channels and technologies now available to B2C and B2B marketers, there’s need for a broad skillset that reflects head and heart, quantitative and creative portfolios.

Weekend fun: Don’t feel like braving the traffic this 4th of July weekend? Google Earth just turned 10, and launched some new features to help you explore the world online. Don’t miss this stunning gallery for a great escape.

Every Friday, find five, highly subjective pointers to compelling technologies, emerging trends, and interesting ideas that affect how we live and work digitally. Try out the Friday 5 archive, or sign up for a weekly email.