Did you know that Google owns Uber? Or that Microsoft owns LinkedIn and Nokia? You do now . . . although the landscape is changing incredibly quickly.
Hallam Internet – a UK-based provider of digital marketing services – recognised it can be tough to keep tabs on who’s who so, earlier this year, it took on the task of working out the tangled web connections. Hallam has now created the interactive infographic shown below, highlighting some surprising connections between arguably the most popular brands around – many of which marketers across the world use daily.
The Tangled Web – Interactive Infographic links up the brands in the digital space – from eBay to Paypal, Twitter to Soundcloud, showing how the ever-changing online landscape is truly a ‘tangled web’ of connected businesses.
Susan Hallam (pictured), managing director at Hallam Internet, told the GMA: “I don’t know how many people appreciate that Google is a major investor in Uber. Or realise that Microsoft owns LinkedIn and Nokia. The web is an incestuous place with tangled relationships. And our digital marketing team decided to research the relationships among the leading digital players, investigating the names we all use on a daily basis.”
Deeper into tangled web connections
She added: “The deeper we dug, the more inter-relationships we discovered. In some cases, these are relationships that were formed in the earlier days, for example when they were still in a start-up phase. Other relationships are more recent, for example LinkedIn purchasing Slideshare. We were also interested to discover the relatively broad range of relationships. Relatively unknown names like IAC have relationships with organisations like Expedia, Hotels.com, as well as Ticketmaster and Match.com
“After gathering the data, we then faced the challenge of programming the interactive infographic so that it legibly displays the complex tangle of inter-relationships. Creating a mobile-friendly version was high on our list of priorities as we knew it would be hugely popular with mobile users. And we’ve created a format that is scalable. We are welcoming suggestions for new relationships to represent on The Tangled Web, and it will be relatively straight-forward for us to add new hubs and nodes.
“Most importantly, we are seeing new relationships forming on nearly a daily basis and we hope to be updating it frequently.”
View the infographic below:
