The data visualization I selected is titled “The World’s Top 50 Websites.” In short, it conveys the most popular websites by monthly traffic volume in 2020. In order to do this, circle sizes are based on traffic volume, global rankings are displayed at the top of each circle, and a line between two circles indicates a shared parent company.
The style of this visualization suits the data very well. Most notably, the inclusion of logos catches the eye of the viewer. Because we are all familiar with these brands and have likely had personal experiences with them, they captivate us. In my opinion, the main point of this visualization is to demonstrate which brands/websites have the most power on the Internet. The visualization’s style does this well by creating circles proportional to website traffic. This automatically enables viewers to estimate the importance of a brand (and not have to search tediously through the statistics behind them).
The audience of this visualization is anyone and everyone who uses the Internet. It enables users of the Internet to better understand its connectedness. The visualization was made by “Visual Capitalist,” which is a media brand that creates graphics and visualizations based on data in the media landscape. The data with which they base their visualizations on is typically quality public sources. While the authors are likely interested in the media industry as a whole, they use data that is inherently objective, so minimal biases can taint the visualization.
