This is my current pc's desktop wallpaper. It inspires me to continue working towards IT greatness. You can download it or even buy the poster. Here's the info:

Web Trend Map 2007 Version 2.0

Published on 26/06/07
by Oliver Reichenstein

We have done it before: The 200 most successful websites on the web, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity and perspective. We have done it again – and better. Upon popular demand – here is iA’s next Web Trend Map:

Buy It!

A2 Posters are now shipping for US$30 including shipping to anywhere in the world. We have only a limited amount left so head this way to order:

Order the A2 Poster for US$30 incl. shipping

Download it!

We figured, that is makes a nice desktop background image as well. So here are some wallpapers to download and replace that ugly windows vista crap or the boring blue Apple background image.We’ve also included a big A3 version and an OSX screensaver.

1. 1600×1024
2. 1440×900
3. 1024×768
4. A3/PDF
5. Clickable online version
6. iA Webtrend Map Screensaver (OSX)

What’s new?

First of all, the new trend map features much more websites than the previous one. While the focus is still on English language websites (because that is where it’s at), we have added some Japanese sites (a mystery to most of you gaijin), some German sites (yeah, there are some popular ones) and a Chinese line (the second Internet).

More Consistency

The different trend lines have been renamed, simplified and cleaned up. Now, if you follow the tech line – you will find tech sites, if you follow the news line – you will find news sites.

More Lines

The original raster (Tokyo metro map) has been substantially modified to fit the needs of an Internet Trend map.

Less Japanese Jokes

There are less insider jokes about the different stations and more consistency within the connections and the neighborhood of the different sites. People who know Tokyo will still find lots of little hints and sarcastic comments hidden in there.

Some interesting things to note

1. Google has moved from Shibuya, a humming place for young people, to Shinjuku, a suspicious, messy, Yakuza-controlled, but still a pretty cool place to hang out (Golden Gaya).
2. Youtube has conquered Shibuya.
3. Microsoft has moved to Ikebukuro, if you know what I mean.
4. Yahoo is in Ueno, a nice place but nothing going on there.
5. Wikipedia now is in Shimbashi, the place for the square and hard-headed Salaryman, like the Wikipedia watchdogs.
6. The Chinese line runs parallel to the “share line” which starts with the main pirates…
7. Paper info designer Tufte is right below the Federated Media, right before joining with the interactive information design circle in a 90 degree angle.
8. “You” are in the Emperor’s palace, in the center of the network.

More Revealing Coincidences

1. The main Japanese sites are all on the money line. I never notice before, but most big Japanese sites are financially successful.
2. The northern part of the Yamanote line (”main sites”) is a boring unknown territory (just as in real Tokyo).
3. Ze Frank ended up close to the German carousel.
4. iA ended up close to the pirates.
5. Adobe moved from Ginza (high class) to Tokyo station (anonymous, lots of money there), which is pointing at the fact that they continue to move towards the center of gravity without being too loud about it.
6. Skype has conquered a place that doesn’t exist.

Insider Circle and Your Palace

There is a new insider circle with the tech trend scouts, the tech bloggers and You, occupying the Emperor’s palace.

Trend Forecast

Of course you will notice that we added a weather forecast. The weather forecast is our six months prognosis for each candidate (no big surprises there).

Web 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5?

Last but not least we have added a Web generation number (is it web 1.0? or Web 2.0, is it a corn or is it a nut?). I don’t want to spoil all of the little things in there, but please note that there are some websites that are web 1.5, some are 2.5 and some that are 0.5. This is not a mistake. Web 2.5 is what facebook is up to… Web 0.5 is what Jakob Nielsen is still doing. The Generation number is not necessarily qualifying, but it’s not surprising that websites that do well are usually above 1.0; some of them (like eBay and Wikipedia) were 2.0. long before the term was coined.

More Mistakes

Of course, there are some totally absurd and meaningless coincidences, due to the complexity of the map. And there might be quite some misspellings and here and there you might discover something totally obsolete. Please feel free to comment on those. Also, if you feel that we forgot a (your) major site, put a wrong weather forecast or got the web generation number wrong, please tell us.

Less Logos

You might have noticed that we had to take off the inverted Tokyo Metro logo as featured in an early version of the first trend map. They asked us to take it off. We respect the decision of the Tokyo Metro Corporation, but we still believe that it is not a smart move for them. The map has been downloaded 10,000 times and has been featured in the traditional and online media all around the world. For a couple of weeks it was one of the cooler tech advertising spots on the net.

Sponsor it!

We now offer the free space on the lower left corner to eventual sponsors. So if you have a company and you want to be featured as a sponsor, feel free to contact us. There are ten spaces for US$2,000 each. You can also buy the whole adspace for yourself.

Your sponsorship will be featured in all adaptations of the map over the next 6 months:
1. Desktop background images
2. Printable A3-size PDF
3. clickable webpage
4. A big poster will follow as soon as we have the sponsors.
4. A simple screensaver.

Who gets the space? Basically, it is first come, first serve, but the sponsor that wants to buy the whole adspace at once will be able to outbid the small sponsors.

Enjoy it!

First of all, it’s fun to look at. If you’re a geek like us, you might just want to download the A3-PDF, print it out and hang it on the wall. So you can stare at it all day long.

Work with it!

In house, we use it as a consulting tool. It has helped us exploring, defining and explaining the Internet strategy and positioning of all of our clients since we first introduced it in January. Each website on the map stands as a (more or less) successful paradigm for an interactive brand, design or business model. In order to position yourself, you need to know your place on this map.

How to use it
1. Find the possible existing candidates that serve as a paradigm for your client’s redesign, repositioning or strategy change
2. Evaluate each candidate according to technical, brand and business affinity (good: green, average: yellow, bad: red)
3. Explain your evaluation and let your client choose which design, strategy, business paradigm he wants to follow.

Use it as your Startpage!

We also created a clickable online version, that you can default to your startpage, if you wish. Use it as a starting point to your daily data hunt.

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