Webcomic artist Randall Munroe, who draws XKCD, has updated his Map of Online Communities for 2010, to reflect how the volume of social activity has changed around the web since the original map was created in 2007.

The chart, which can be viewed over at XKCD, compares the sizes of different sites on the web, based on how much socializing — talking, playing, sharing, listening, etc. — takes place there. It’s full of interesting nuggets of information, internet in-jokes and references to memes and web culture.

The original map, which was created in 2007, shows MySpace massive, and Facebook about the same size as LiveJournal. Now, LiveJournal has been relegated to a tiny island off the southern shores of Twitter about the same size as ICQ, and Facebook takes up a huge portion of the top of the map, peppered with “Data mines,” the “Plains of awkwardly public family interactions” and the “Northern wasteland of unread updates”.

Data was sourced from search engines, aggregation sites, statistics pages, press releases and individual site employees. There’s also a bit of guesswork and statistical inference used, along with “tea-leaf reading, goat sacrifices and gut instinct,” according to Munroe.

If you’re particularly taken by it, $15 plus shipping will get you a poster of the map, which measures about 32 inches by 37 inches. You can also get it in a bundle with the 2007 map for $20.

See Also:

• Real Geek Heart Beats in XKCD's Stick Figures
• Geek Heroes Sing 'We Love XKCD'

Authors: Duncan Geere, Wired UK

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