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Subterranean Blog

Updated Map of Online Communities 2010 charts the Web's seismic shifts

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October 6, 2010 2:33 am
By Sheila Lennon

online_communities_2.png


inset1.jpgRandall Munroe, much touted for his xkcd comics, but immortalized for his maps of the Internet, has made a new one -- Map of Online Communities 2010 is the giant version. It's an update of the 2007 map below that hangs on the wall above my monitor in the Journal newsroom. People come by to gawk at it, although I suspect most come when I'm not there.

So there's a lot of Facebook and farmers where MySpace used to be, and Twitter and Skype are continents. The Icy North, where Yahoo, Windows Live and AOL used to be, is now the Northern Wasteland of Unread (Facebook) Updates. (Windows Live Spaces are down in in Buzzword Bay.)

Whatever happened to Wikipedia?

Fortunately, Usenet -- the original newsgroups --is "Still Here!"

inset2.jpgBetween Twitter and Google Buzz, you'll find Journalists Trying to Find the Cutting Edge.

The Sea of Memes is still there, but the Sea of Culture has given way to the Sea of Opinions. The Ocean of Subculture is no more.

You can play "Where's Waldo?" looking for your favorite features, but be prepared to find them fading into obscurity or stubborn smallness.

For perspective, the the lovely inset map at left and above, show Email and instant messaging are bigger than all of this and that ordinary yammering reality trumps all.


online_communities_small.png


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