March 27th, 2007

Working with Widgets, Gadgets, Modules

I’m not sure what impact widgets, also known as gadgets and modules, will have on interactive marketing yet, but they are catching on very quickly. In case you’re not yet aware, I’m talking about the self-contained mini-windows that pull content, and even functionality in Web 2.0 versions, from other sources and are being made available for placement by anyone with a desktop, browser and/or website.

I started using Netvibes several weeks back, which allows the user to create a personalized homepage. In my case, that’s meant a complete dashboard-like personal page that provides me, at a glance, a summary of weather in my area over the next four days; the clickable headlines for the NY Times, BBC News, Guardian Unlimited newspaper, Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company magazine, complete with subheads upon scroll-over; and an electronic to-do list, calendar, and quick search from Google, Yahoo and other search engines.

I also tried working even more recently with a new service in beta called Coghead that allows non-programmers to build customized applications with a drag-and-drop interface that includes widgets for elements of data entry forms, objects and behavior, and displays of records. I thought this may help us improve over the Excel spreadsheet we now use for online media planning and placement for our clients — a sometimes complex process that involves different online publishers and email list owners, inventory, pricing models, dates, and other parameters.

Widgets are definitely a useful tool that will continue to grow in popularity and evolve into may other forms and applications. From a marketing perspective, it’s a great and convenient way for an audience to exert greater control over the content it accesses, which assures its future ubiquity. Already VW, Nike, Target, and UPS have created branded widgets.

For more information about widgets, check out this useful blog, which includes further links to its explanation of widgets.