This week’s winner of the site of the week contest was Walk2Web. Walk2Web is a site that allows you to analyze outgoing links on a particular website or blog. On the site, you enter a domain name and then you can trace how that site might be connected to others.
This functionality can come in handy in a couple of ways. On it’s most basic level, you can use the site to find new web pages, that may be relevant to sites that you already pay attention to.
On a deeper level, you could also use Walk2Web to help identify connections that wouldn’t seem obvious without being able to see the big picture. While, some of the connections don’t reveal anything, if I wanted to learn more about a blogger’s social network, I’d try running their site through Walk2Web, in order to see which websites are showing up on their radar.
In order to play around with the site, I decided that I’d play a game of Six Degrees of Davis Freeberg, in order to see who I might be connected to, in the vast maze that makes ups the innerweb.
When I put my domain into the site, it gave me several paths to go down, but I decided to pick, Just Talking Out Loud as my first step. From there, I discovered Andreas Viklund’s internet blog. Andreas is a 27 year old blogger and web developer from Sweden.
From there, I found Kelly’s World. The cats on Kelly’s World are a little bit freaky, but I did like the technology and video game coverage on the site. On Kelly’s World, there is a link to site named 54 North.
54 North is still in development, but there is an interesting link to Centro Flamenco on the web page. Centro Flamenco is an oasis for Salsa dancers. They dance company was founded in 1989 and performs throughout Canada each year. Salsa dancing isn’t my particular cup of tea, but that’s only because I was born with two left feet.
On Centro Flamenco, there was a link to web photographer, David Cooper. I’m not sure if David has set up a Zooomr account just yet, but on his website you can see some examples of his work.
Normally, David’s website isn’t something that I would stumble across on the net, but thanks to Walk2Web, I was able to see that I’m actually connected to his site in a convoluted way. Part of what makes the web such a unique experience is the ability to travel deeper and deeper into a story. By creating an easier way to understand the link relationships that exist between websites, Walk2Web has made a filter that is entertaining and useful.
Congratulations to Walk2Web for winning this week’s site of the week contest. If you’d like to nominate a web page for the site of the week, please contact me and I’ll be happy to look at it. The nominations for next week’s site are listed below, please vote in the sidebar.
#1 by Brent on August 7, 2007 - 4:45 pm
Very useful site. I’m playing around with walk2web and have found more than I expected. Thanks,
Brent
#2 by davis on August 7, 2007 - 5:28 pm
Be careful, Brent, the site can be addictive. You may find out things about yourself that you wish you had never known. I had a lot of fun using it to find new blogs. There are a lot of links to the big sites, but if you avoid the well known names, you can find some pretty eclectic stuff. There is also another site that does the same thing, except for SEC filings, but their user interface is terrible compared to Walk2Web. I’m not a big fan of the audio, but it’s a neat site that they’ve put together.
#3 by Sissy on August 9, 2007 - 10:40 am
Cell for cash was a great site! I emptied out a junk drawer and got paid for it!
#4 by Davis Freeberg on August 9, 2007 - 3:14 pm
Thanks for the comment Sissy, I am sure that you are very enthusiastic about the site, however I think it’s only fair to remind you that when you comment on blogs, you also send your IP address. I don’t mind if you prefer to stay anonymous, but if you are going to praise the company, than it’s only fair for you to disclose that you actually work for the publishing company that makes CellForCash. As cool of a site that it is, you still should be careful about making sure that web surfers don’t confuse your voice/votes with the comments from real fans.
#5 by Kelly Adams on August 14, 2007 - 10:05 am
walk2web sounds intriguing. I’ve played with similar “relationship / content mapping” applications on the corporate network at my employer, and have often discovered more than enough to compensate for the time I “waste” poking around. The challenge is always pulling out of the “deep dive” that link or tag hopping can lead to.
I’m not sure what about my cats could be called “freaky”, though- now I’ll have to look through my recent postings and see where I tipped the weird meter
#6 by davis on August 15, 2007 - 6:32 am
I really like content mapping applications. I’ve seen other services like walk2web, but not for blogs. The best part is finding the links that you’d never have found otherwise. Don’t feel bad about the cats putting you over the weirdo meter, I think cats in general are pretty freaky. I can never understand why people can’t just have one