Web Widgets For Everyone
Does your MySpace page play the cha-cha? Does your Facebook account organize social schedules? Does your blog deliver financial information streaming at 20 minutes behind NASDAQ market activity?
If so, you are taking part in a big trend in web-based tools. In addition to providing additional stickiness and personal interaction with visitors, web widgets (also referred to as gadgets) solve functional needs of web users. And used in the right context, their value can help build a brand. Yes, I said “when used in the right context.”
The problem, as with many “free” web resources, many site administrators, bloggers, etc. can’t see the forest for the trees and most follow the “if 1 is cool, then 30 is even better” approach to “adding value” to their site.
It’s not just open-source geeks who are building widgets now. Marketers have seen the value of taking over “free” real estate on blogs and social networking sites. Success will come to marketers that can build functional and intuitive web gadgets, that can also fit within the context of an existing site’s functionality.
The downside is for every quality widget there is out there, there are 1,000 crap widgets. If you don’t believe me, peruse the following sites and comment on the ones you think are truly useful, and why.
While you're pondering your next move on your Twitter account, take a moment to play a useless, but fun, web widget...
