We’ve got a new toy — the INCULINK // New Media Web Trend Map.
Sometimes you just don’t realize what you’ve been missing until you see it live in action.
Twitter, Facebook and other new media sites only allow you to view information streams one profile at a time. But with the help of our customized Web Trend Map, you can now visualize all social media, social network, multimedia, and web technology related news in one stop.
Check out what the most trending topics across all of our New Media resources are at any given time. Find out how it relates to what we’re talking about at INCULINK… and what Adam and I are talking about individually as well.
Here’s the map at a glance. Click on the image to view the fully interactive version:
Some tips on navigating our map that is built on the San Francisco grid — partly because we both frequent Frisco, and partly because many new media companies are headquartered there:
- INCULINK is located on Treasure Island. Adam and I are adjacent.
- The central area surrounded by the Marina, North Beach, Golden Gate Bridge, Twin Peaks and Sunset Beach is where you’ll find the Social Networks, Social Media websites and New Media tools.
- Venture northeast to Oakland and flow south to track the chatter amongst the individuals we follow who are constant contributors to the new media conversations. Experts include Guy Kawasaki, David Pogue of the New York Times, and the Twitter founders.
- Head over to the Wild West, and there you’ll see a much more intimate group of individuals that we consider to be our local peers… folks with whom we bounce ideas and thoughts off of regularly.
- Scroll over each profile to see the latest tweets and links.
- Click on each profile to see their latest feeds and who else in our map network has shared the same news.
The Web Trend Map comes from the folks at Information Architects. iA has produced a Web Trend Map annually for the last four years. With each version come and go new and old trends, including news sites, new media tools and e-commerce sites.
The topography in the latest version of the map really gives the landscape of the World Wide Web a unique perspective.
Currently the customizable maps are in limited availability, and only tracks Twitter conversations. At first it seemed lacking because of the inability to feed Facebook, YouTube or other new media feeds into each profile. But considering that Facebook recently implemented the ability to post its wall feeds to Twitter, and the likes of TwitterFeed supporting other streams, there really is no limitation. Restricting it to Twitter accounts makes it efficient.
For more details on how a Web Trend Map works, check out iA’s own explanation here. With fancy words like micro-curator and micro-aggregates, it’s easiest to follow their illustrated tour.
Check out the original Web Trend Map 4 teaser we posted on our tumblr page earlier this year: