Cool, Web 2.0 Mojo from Topix.net

Submitted by kpaul.mallasch on Thu, 02/23/2006 - 11:11pm.

I have to admit that the newspapers who snapped up Topix.net were smart. I frequent their site a lot, scouring for local Muncie news and watching the progress on the Topix.net forums - their threads are tied to stories and geographically collected too. Well, tonight, I happened to notice on the right rail, a cool map of the U.S. tagged with what looked like forum activity from different states and cities. Intrigued, I clicked.

(click for better screenshot)

It's what I would call a good example of Web 2.0, or what I imagine that phrase to mean. Good job to the guys at Topix.net. When the newspaper boys realize the Topix.net platform is (or seems) a lot better than what's running some of the big newspaper sites - well, it will give them a fighting chance, I think. I don't know if they'll ever take that leap en masse, though, until most of the revenue dries up.

Anyway, clicking on the map brings up another layer on your browser, with a map of the United States highlighted with colors representing both 'volume' and 'recency.' Very cool visually.

It's kinda odd to have it hovering over the 'normal' webpage, but it's still pretty slick. Again, hats off to some good Web 2.0 design.