Widget Bashing on Valleywag

Nick Denton over at Valleywag has just posted a couple of reasons why he thinks that widgets are more hype than substance.  His primary arguments are:

- Widgets are clutter
- Widgets slow the page down
- There's no business model

I don't really disagree with any of these points.  As any reader of Sexy Widget can attest, too many widgets DO clutter things up and slow the page down. 

But I don't think these failings will be enough to slow the widget momentum.

Widgets are clutter, but it's my clutter, dammit.  They give me the power to take my favorite web services with me in a to go bag, and call them up whenever and wherever I want them.

If there is any enduring take-away from this whole social media / web 2.0 thing is that folks like being in control of their online experience.  Widgets represent the next phase of this ceding of control to the user - and this time, the user's power spans across the boundaries of individual domains.

I also think this pressure to define a business model for widgets is a little unfair.  When I buy text link ads via Google AdWords, I'm not expecting the ad itself to make me money.  In fact, I'm PAYING for the right to have my custom AdWords widget to show up on the search results page.  Why do I pay?  I pay because I believe that the resulting traffic will support my business model.

So why are we demanding that the widget itself make money?  Isn't enough that the widget build your brand, drive you traffic, and improve your organic search rankings?  And for free?

I dunno... I guess I'm all for a healthy dose of skepticism, but let's make sure that we not forget about what widgets do bring to the table: more freedom, control, and power for users, and the ability for any web site - no matter how small or bootstrapped - to see their message, content, and brand spread like wildfire around the web.   

Comments

[Derek Anderson]

L.C. you nailed it! I agree with you 100%.

Why does everything have to be "If it doesn't make a buck it ain't worth doing"?

People like widgets! People blog! People do what they want and if things work out the way they want them to, they remember those as the "good times"

I don't know what else to say. You covered it perfectly.

"D"

[lawrence]

Thanks Derek...and you never know, widgets may turn out to make a direct buck or two (in addition to the indirect ones they are already driving.)