Website: http://www.touchgraph.com/index.html

TouchGraph is a business that graphically represents a search term to other closely linked items of interest. For example, I searched for “The Matrix” and was presented with a web of movies related to my search. One such movie was “The Gladiator” which I clicked on and was able to expand my graph–or as the company calls it “visualization”–to include other movies closely linked to “The Gladiator.” See screenshot for a better idea.

Their work may be the underlying power behind “My Recommendation” on Yahoo and other search engine websites. TouchGraph writes: “Visualization goes beyond lists to reveal larger-scale patterns. Results are displayed in context–one can see how they fit into the big picture, how they relate to each other, and how they connect to metadata such as subjects and authors.” [1]. On the left side of the screen, the site has listed suggestions for other movies and books that may interest me based on my search.

While it is unclear how the company creates it’s visulalizaions, a simple visual web may be appealing to shoppers and companies alike.

References:

[1] TouchGraph’s Company Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2007, from http://www.touchgraph.com/company-overview.html