Sexy Widget

Widget Event Recap

Those of you who made it to the sold out Widgets up the Wazoo 2 (sfnewtech) last night - which I had the pleasure of moderating - saw a great show.  From top to bottom, the demos were superb.  Not only did we have top tier companies on the bill, but we actually had the founders of Gigya, iWidgets, Widgetbox, and MuseStorm represented in the lineup.

Here's a quick recap:

Glam Media, the events sponsor, kicked things off with some slides.  Sadly, they ran out of time for the demo portion, though Myles graciously gave them another minute as "they were buying the drinks." 

Gigya Founder and CEO Eyal Magen then gave a quick demonstration of some of Gigya's widget infrastructure / distribution tools.  He showcased an implementation that they had recently done for Coca-Cola, and highlighted Gigya's big traction (150MM unique viewers last month) and ease of implementation.  I found his discussion of how Gigya stays on top of changing destination platforms interesting (e.g. what happens when MySpace changes their platform in the middle of the night and suddenly the "add to MySpace button" doesn't work any more) - apparently they rely on a combination of around the clock human monitoring, combined with automated tools.

Peter Yared from iWidgets went next, and demonstrated how iWidget's publishing tool could be used to convert an RSS feed of RateItAll reviews into a Facebook and / or MySpace application.   Peter was able to build a nice looking FB application, complete with newsfeed story integration and the ability for other RateItAll members to plug in their own RateItAll name to create their own personalized app, in about three minutes.  I think iWidgets won the "gee whiz" award of the night with its flurry of live dragging and dropping.  Also interesting is the iWidgets revenue model - they only charge for clicks back to the host site (CPC), as opposed to impressions (CPM).

Giles Goodwin from Widgetbox continued the demo, by taking the RateItAll reviewer app that Peter had just created with iWidgets, and dropping it into the Widgetbox gallery.   He then demonstrated how this page served as a showcase and launchpad for the app,  both in terms of organic search and distribution buttons.  I was sorry that Widgetbox CEO (and former Hummer Winblad partner) wasn't there so I could ask him "What's to keep Google from doing this."  Will was very gracious when my company pitched him at Hummer Winblad, but it still would have been fun to turn the tables on him :)

Ori Soen from MuseStorm was next, and he demonstrated MuseStorm's widget publishing tool that allows you to easily pull in different elements such as video, polls, ratings, and more.  On the output side, MuseStorm supports the iPhone, in addition to big properties like Facebook and MySpace.  MuseStorm partners with Gigya for distribution and the tool has been specifically built for agencies.

The final demo was from Todd Fast, CTO of Zembly.  Zembly is a private beta social application publishing tool with a couple of twists - not only is the output social, but the publishing itself is social.  Developers collaborate using Zembly's framework.  Unlike the MuseStorm and iWidgets tools which try to emulate PowerPoint, there is a bit of lightweight coding involved in using Zembly's tool.  One other interesting / unusual thing about Zembly is that they are wholly owned by Sun Microsystems, giving them some advantages (and disadvantages) versus traditional startups which Todd spoke very candidly about.

My favorite demo of the night was the iWidgets / Widgetbox tag team.  Peter and Giles were able to show how to take an RSS feed of user activity, turn it into a slick looking, social application, and prime it for distribution in under ten minutes.

After the demos, I caught up with a few interesting folks including Michael Chin from KickApps, Niall Kennedy (sign up for Widget Summit now!), Mani Iyer from quiz site Kwanzoo, Tom Hicks from Caachi, and PJ Gurumohan from feed company Genwi.

I think a good time was had by all, and many thanks to Myles for pulling the event together.

Here are the results of the audience ratings in terms of favorite demo:

Clearspring Raises $18M, is Posting Crazy Numbers

Widget platform Clearspring has just announced new funding of $18M from NEA and their existing investors such as Novak Biddle.

The numbers this company is reporting are staggering:

• 126M unique widget viewers in March
• More than 33B widget views served since its launch in 2007

Congratulations to Hooman and team.

Plaxo Keeps Pounding the Openness Drum

A few days ago, I wrote about Plaxo's universal news feed, and how Plaxo was positioning itself in direct contrast to Facebook by pulling in news feed items from around the web, and making an RSS feed of that news feed available to their members.

Now Plaxo has taken the next step and introduced a JavaScript widget that Plaxo members can use to display a summary of their web activity on their own sites.  The widget displays things like blog posts, Dugg articles, Flickr photos, Yelp reviews, and anything else for which there is an RSS feed available.

I would have liked to see some more formatting options for the widget, but I appreciate their desire to get stuff out the door to keep momentum going - especially as they just got a nice mention in the Economist.

For more, see TechCrunch.

Airfare Widget

I just got alerted to a cool little airfare widget from a company called AirfareWatchdog.com.  It displays current, unadvertised airfare deals from the city of your choice.

I love to travel, and I love local content.  It's a no brainer for me to add this widget to my sidebar for flights from San Francisco as a way for me to keep an eye out for deals (I'm already eyeing a $79 roundtrip flight to SD).

They're also working on a desktop version of the widget which makes a lot of sense.

You can see the widget in my left sidebar, and you can get your own here.

Travel is an extremley lucractive vertical, and a simple, easy to use widget could be a nice lead gen vehicle for AirfareWatchdog.com.

A couple of widget 101 tips for these guys:

- Don't require a registration to get this widget.  There's no better way to kill a widget's proliferation than to put a registration obstacle in front of it.

- Test your widget config tool in Firefox.  It bounces me all over the page.  Firefox users tend to be the early adopters, and the same people who are most willing and able to grab a widget and run with it.

- Let me set my dimensions for the widget.

U-Lik Widget – a Review

U-Lik is an online collection tool for consumer preferences that allows users to rate people, products, places, etc., and then display those likes via a widget on their blogs.

U-Lik’s value proposition is to house a collection of likes of a user, provide the tools to broadcast those likes, and to facilitate introductions to other people who share those likes.

As I am a founder of RateItAll – which could be considered a direct competitor - it’s going to be pretty tough for me to give an unbiased review of this company / widget.  Please keep this in mind as you read my analysis.

Applications & Opportunity

I have long argued to anyone who will listen that the Internet landscape is crying out for a Wikipedia of opinion based content – in fact, I was even arguing this before there was a Wikipedia.  My argument has been that the consumer review / opinion space is hopelessly fragmented, and that there is a real opportunity for a single player to come along and build the be all, end all site of consumer opinion covering not just products, but people, places, ideas, culture, etc.  Just as Google consolidated search, and eBay consolidated auctions, and Walgreen’s consolidated the fragmented drug store landscape, and Supercuts consolidated the fragmented barber shop scene, I think that a single company will rise to be the preferred destination for structured online opinions.

I still believe this, and it would appear that I-Lik does as well.

The widget aspect is a very important piece of this vision, as people have demonstrated that they will use widgets that display what they like (iLike, Last.FM, etc.).  I see no reason why this behavior wouldn’t extend to things like travel, people, and maybe, products.  Properly executed, these widgets should provide the bulk of I-Lik’s customer acquisition and marketing.

Configuration & Testing

I found U-Lik’s home page to be pretty confusing.  The main mission statement referred to “sharing my virtual library,” but that didn’t really mean anything to me.  I looked in vain for an About page that would tell me more about what I was supposed to do, but I couldn’t find one.  The only reason that I persisted until I found the widget was because I had read on Widgetoko that it existed.

Once I logged in, I just started searching for stuff that I liked.  I was able to pull up a band, a movie, a city, etc.  Some of my more obscure searches didn’t return any results, and I was invited to create a listing for that page.  U-Lik is about users creating listings, which can then be shared with other users both on the U-Lik site, and across the blogosphere.  It’s a nice model.

Once I had accumulated a few things in my library, I clicked on the link in the header that said “My Library on My Blog.”  This generated a snippet of JavaScript.  There were no configuration options, but the default widget does fit nicely into the sidebar.  The widget seems to insert some extra space below it (see my right sidebar).

In terms of the widget itself, I would recommend a background color and some clearer branding.  Having a “share” option doesn’t work so well with this widget, as by definition, the U-Lik widget is very personalized.

Editorial

Because of my obvious conflict of interest with this particular widget, I’m not going to spend much time on editorializing about U-Lik’s prospects, or making in depth recommendations about what they could do better.

I think they have a good idea, but I think they’re execution is a bit confusing.  I will be watching them with interest :)

Widget Interview with Lee Odden

Lee Odden of Top Rank Online Marketing just published an interview that we did as a follow-up to my recent Pubcon widget presentation.

Click through for the full widget interview.

Building a Widget? Read this First.

I had the opportunity to speak at Pubcon last week on the viral marketing panel on a lineup that included Rand Fishkin (SEOMoz), Aaron Wall (Seo Book and Clientside), and Louise Rijk (Advanced Media Productions).  It was a solid panel, and I was flattered to be up there with Aaron and Rand – who I have long considered to be two of the best minds in the biz.

Not surprisingly, I devoted my entire presentation to widgets – specifically, how widgetizing your Web site is an important step towards giving your users the tools to help your business go viral.

In preparing for this presentation, I went through all of the widgets and widget related businesses that I have grokked for Sexy Widget, and I came up with five principles that every widgetmaster should consider while laying out the specs for their widget.

1)    Accessibility

It sounds like a no brainer, but make sure that you choose a format for your widget that works for the demographic you are trying to reach.  If you are trying to reach MySpace’ers, don’t make a JavaScript widget.  If you have a widget that will be used primarily in blog sidebars, make sure it fits in a blog sidebar.  Don’t be like these guys, or these guys.

2)    Customization

Every widgetmaster will have to navigate the tightrope between making their widget easy to grab, and providing widget customization options such as colors, styles, dimensions, and customized output code for each of the primary widget aggregators (MySpace, Bebo, TypePad, etc.).  Ajax preview tools will help your users visualize what their widget will look like before taking the time copy and paste it in.  Some folks who I think have done an especially good job with this are Widgetbox and Tourb.us:

3)    Content / Experience

Will your widget provide a snapshot of content / links, or will it provide an embedded experience?  In either case, most Web sites will have to make their choices carefully, based on their target market, and based on the most likely destination for their widget (blogs vs. SNS).  What aspect of your Web site’s content or functionality is most likely to work in a small piece of real estate?  What aspect will be easiest to understand?  What aspect is most likely to make viewers want to grab it and put it on their own sites?  As time goes on, I expect all widgets to move towards a more integrated, contextually aware experience.  To better understand what I mean by embedded experience, check out Bitty Browser if you haven’t already.

4)    Branding

To me, widgets are all about extending your site (and brand’s) reach beyond the confines of your domain.  Clearly, you don’t want to miss the branding opportunity afforded by the potential proliferation of your content all over the Web.  But at the same time, you don’t want to overbrand and make your widget look like an ad.  While this is a subjective area, I do have strong opinions on this.  I think that the ThisNext widget is very elegantly branded.  I think that the FavoriteThingz widget is overbranded.  I think the Snipperoo brand is too tough to read, and I like the way that ChipIn provides a tab that lets the viewer learn more about ChipIn within the body of the widget.

5)    Sharing

In terms of viral marketing, this is the big one.  When someone sees your widget on another site, how easy do you make it for them to grab it and put it on their own site?  Do you force them to click through to your site to grab the code?  Do you force them to click through and register (shudder)?  Can you grab the code right from the body of the widget?  Or are you blessed enough to be able to provide one click adds for your widget?  Streampad does a nice job of letting folks grab widget code right from the player.

(One area that I intentionally ignore in these five principles is the backlink potential associated with a successful widget execution.  The SEO implications of having a successful widget are massive.  I don’t know of another medium with a comparable potential for organic, one way, inbound links with customizable anchor text.  From what I've seen, none of the mainstream widgets have solved this yet, though I've heard whispers from savvy guys like Receptional and Oilman of people doing creative things in this area. This merits its own post, I think.)

Widget Conference

Niall Kennedy has announced a conference about widgets called Widgets Live! that will take place in San Francisco on November 6.

I will most likely be attending, and hope to meet some of the folks who have been regularly writing and working with widgets like Tim Post, Ivan Pope, Giles Goodwin, Hooman Radfar, Pete Cashmore, etc.

Google Gadgets - A Review

The widget aggregator space is really heating up.  Today Google introduced Google Gadgets for Webpages, and joins Snipperoo, Widgetbox, and Fox Media’s TheSpringBox as companies seeking to provide the infrastructure for the growing widget ecosystem.

Google Gadgets have been around for a while as embeddable widgets for a user’s personalized Google home page and Google Desktop.  During this time, Google has been quietly accumulating widgets – more than 1200 to be exact – and most of them developed outside of Google.  As of today, Google is providing embeddable JavaScript code snippets for each of the widgets in its directory that allow folks to plug these widgets into their own sites.

Google is not yet providing any sort of end user widget management system – their offering consists solely of a directory of developer submitted widgets, and a widget platform that houses the widgets.

To be more precise, developers submit their widgets to the Google widget directory, and Google provides distribution and attaches their branding to each widget.

Applications & Opportunity

For a discussion of the applications and opportunity for widget aggregators, please see here, here, and here.

Configuration and Testing

The Google widget directory currently consists of more than 1200 widgets, listed 24 to a page with a thumbnail and an “Add to your webpage” button.

Clicking “Add to your webpage” takes you to the Google widget configuration tool.  Depending on the widget, there can be various configuration options, but the core settings that appear to be available for every widget are Title, Width, Height, and Border.

Every widget that I looked at was optimized for a width of over 300 pixels, and of the ten or so widgets that I tried to install in my TypePad sidebar, most of them simply wouldn’t reduce in a format that was legible.  The two that are currently installed were the best of the bunch in terms of fitting in a sidebar, and as you can see, they’re not perfect.

The Google Gadget code is a script, so it will not work with most SNS profile pages, or on Blogger posts…. you would think (more on this to follow).

While I was able to install Google Gadgets in both my TypePad and Blogger sidebars, unless something changes with the formatting, they won’t be there for long, as they simply don’t fit in a typical blog’s sidebar.  Sort of a bummer, I think, as widgets belong in the sidebar more than they do in a body of a post.  Also, putting a script-based widget in the body of your post can break your RSS feed.

The Google Gadget itself is nice enough looking, with the top of the widget’s frame branded and linked to the developer’s site, and the bottom of the widget’s frame linked to the new Google Gadgets landing page.  There is also a button on every widget that allows you to add the widget to your Google home page (as an aside, can an independent company like Netvibes ever match this sort of vertical integration?)

So if you’re like me, you’re wondering at this point… “Where the hell am I going to put these widgets?”  They don’t fit in sidebars, they don’t work with MySpace, and because they’re script based, they don’t work in Blogger posts.

However, this particular script DOES work on Blogger posts.  On a hunch given that Blogger and Google Gadgets are part of the same big, happy family, I tried submitting a Google Gadget in the body of a Blogger post.   I got an html error saying that the tag “script” was not allowed.  When I overrode this error by checking the box, the widget posted normally.  Interesting.

So to summarize my testing experiences, while Google has amassed a broad array of fun little widgets, as it stands today, they are just not widely usable – at least the way that I use widgets.  Waiving the script ban for Blogger posts for these widgets helps a little, but I’d much rather see these things optimized for a sidebar.

Editorial

If Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information, and widgets are truly the new Web pages, then it should not be a surprise that Google is getting into this space. 

However, there are a couple of surprises with this release. 

I’m surprised that Google is getting into the directory business – a directory would seem to be very un-googlelike.  Directories are content, and Google has always seemed to prefer other folks to amass the content (see DMOZ).

I am also surprised that they’ve optimized their entire widget directory for 300+ pixels wide.  This makes zero sense to me.  The grand master of widget usage Fred Wilson makes a pretty good case that widgets were made to go in the sidebar, not in the body of the post.  Are these wide widgets just a carry-over from modules being optimized for Google customizable home page?  Were they rushing to get this thing out to meet some milestone?  Or did they not do their homework? 

The Blogger script allow is also interesting on a number of fronts.  Clearly, Google needs an outlet for their 1200 ultra-wide, script-based widgets.  If you build them that way, there are not a lot of places that can house them.  In this context, including Blogger posts as possible homes for these widgets is a big deal. 

The other way to look at this move is as an attempt to strengthen Blogger itself.  By making Blogger the only major free blogging platform that can house Google Gadgets in posts themselves, couldn’t that be considered a major reason to use Blogger and not MySpace or Xanga to host your blog? 

Having spent a number of hours going through TheSpringBox, Snipperoo, and Widgetbox over the last week or so, I can say with some confidence that Google has a long way to go.  Snipperoo is farther along than Google is, and they’re still in closed beta.  Widgetbox’s directory is infinitely slicker and usable than Google’s.  TheSpringBox isn’t really showing their cards yet, but they have the ace in the hole of millions of widget crazy users waiting to plug stuff into their MySpace profiles.

The breadth of widgets that Google has accumulated is impressive, and the Blogger relationship is a nice advantage.  But the rest of the offering is not yet up to the high standards set by the start-ups in this space.

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Sexy Widget

One widget review per day, five days a week.  That's it.

I'm going to try and review both well known and obscure widgets on this blog, and will do some basic testing on MySpace, Blogger, and TypePad.

Readers wishing to add their own reviews can click through on the various Widget ratings lists in the left sidebar.

If you'd like your widget reviewed, feel free to send me a note at LTrain at gmail.com.