BBC shares infographics and embeddable video with its viewers

May 23, 2007

Well I am posting again on [tag]infographics[/tag] sooner than I first expected! Two separate initiatives have recently gone live on the BBC – showcasing great use of visual online tools.

The first is a visual timeline allowing the viewer to ‘explore all of British history, from the Neolithic to the present day’. You can zoom in and out of different periods in history, following pre-set themes or jump around to learn about specific points in time.

The second again is based upon a timeline, showing the seven ages of rock music. Designed to support a TV series, the site also incorporates some great functionality – from video content that can be grabbed and posted on blogs and social network personal profile pages, to ‘tag clouds’, showing what music acts people are most interested in.

So the US isn’t as far ahead as I first thought! There is plenty of functionality that brands can use here to support their marketing activity online. If the BBC simplify something as complicated as Britain’s extensive history from Neolithic times, there is plenty of scope to describe products and services in an interactive, engaging way.

Also, the more something can be grabbed and shared with family and friends the more success you’ll have in this spread across the web and reaching the right people. The BBC definitely has cottoned onto this – will be interesting to see where this ends up.

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