Blend Interactive shifts focus of Web 2.0 map from ‘Control’ to ‘Data’

It’s always exciting to feature our Silicon Prairie companies doing excellent work in the national spotlight. It’s also no secret that when you do fantastic work, you’ll get invited back for more. This was exactly the case with Sioux Falls interactive agency Blend Interactive and its involvement with John Battelle and the Web 2.0 Summit.…

After building the Points of Control Map for last year’s Web 2.0 Summit, Blend Interactive created The Data Frame for this year’s event. Screenshot from blendinteractive.com

It’s always exciting to feature our Silicon Prairie companies doing excellent work in the national spotlight. It’s also no secret that when you do fantastic work, you’ll get invited back for more. This was exactly the case with Sioux Falls interactive agency Blend Interactive and its involvement with John Battelle and the Web 2.0 Summit.

Last year, we examined how Blend built the Points of Control Map for the 2010 Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. The concept of last year’s map was showcasing the world of Web 2.0 and the battle grounds of claiming new territory in an ever-changing space. As technology has evolved in the past 12 months, so have the key issues in the tech world and the theme of the 2011 Summit. This year’s map is titled, “The Data Frame: Visualizing the Big Players in the Internet Economy.

I met with Blend partners Joe Kepley (left, photo from twitter.com) and Karla Santi and senior interactive designer Sam Otis, who designed the map, to talk about how the project was different this year.

The twist with this year’s map is the newly added “data layer.” Battelle wanted to focus on the eight major players in technology — Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay, Microsoft and Apple — and observe what type of data they control. This creates a great catalyst for discussion at a conference like the Web 2.0 Summit to debate and argue how these companies will use this data and what that means for the future of technology.

“The data layer is an examination of companies and the internal assets that they have,” Kepley said. “For example, Google has not only search, but Google has everything I intended to do with my search. All of my emails, etc. The notion of the data frame was to try and illustrate the value relevant to that data.”

What is cool about this year’s map is that it has the ability to ebb and flow with the growth of the online players. As Kepley explained, the data layer is built on numbers in a database, so as the map progresses and new research surfaces, specific players can grow or shrink. Blend and Web 2.0 Summit partnered with Nielsen to gather data and a number they called the “engagement score.”

One of the interesting challenges Blend faced was taking an existing map from last year and evolving it to fit the 2011 theme but also stay within the context of the original theme. Santi (left, photo from twitter.com) explained: “Visualizing this new layer on the map was a difficult challenge. When John brought this idea to the table, we said, ‘What do you mean just add another layer to the map?’ “

After the new layer was added, the second challenge was figuring out how to visually represent data. “Everybody’s data is a little bit different. We pared it down into the seven categories of data so you can bucket it up and compare apples to apples,” said Otis (below, photo from twitter.com), who was in charge of designing the map and decided to visualize each company’s data in a Sim City-like theme. Representing a city of data for each major company really turned out nicely, and I think Blend succeeded in meeting this new challenge.

Last week, Blend added a social feature into the map called City Builder, designed to make the map more social and engaging. Visitors to the map can now build their own city, illustrate their fictitious data and then share with their friends on Twitter. It’s quite fun, and you can see other people’s cities on the map today — for example, check out New Johnstown, my city (screenshot below).

The map went live on Sept. 23, and the new City Builder feature rolled out Oct. 6. In the first two weeks after launch, the map had already garnered over 10,000 site visits and an impressive four minutes average time on site.

The Blend partners said the map has brought a lot of interesting phone calls and emails from prospective clients wanting to do map-based projects. “Overall, I think the long-term effect has been that the map has served as a great portfolio piece for our business,” Kepley said. “People notice the map and say, ‘Wow, you guys did that.’ “

Blend will get more great exposure, as the map will serve as the backdrop to all the speakers at the Web 2.0 Summit and is built into all of the conference’s branding. I’m also super excited to be joining two members of the Blend team at the summit next week in San Francisco. Look for a recap from the event here on Silicon Prairie shortly. 

Disclosure: Blend Interactive is providing Meyer a conference pass to attend the Web 2.0 Summit.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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