What the Heck are Widgets? (And why I hate “widgets”) : SplashCast Blog

What the Heck are Widgets? (And why I hate “widgets”)

Posted on April 16, 2008
Posted by Mike Berkley

I spoke on a panel today called “What the Heck are Widgets?”. I shared the stage with the VP Sales at eROI , the VP Biz Dev at KickApps (somewhat a competitor to SplashCast), and the VP Biz Dev at FlightStats.

Innotech Panel

There were about 100 folks in attendance, of which about 90% called themselves marketers, by a raise of hands.

It was a good discussion, addressing important questions like:

  • Is it better to buy versus build? (buy)
  • Are there true standards yet in widget development? (no)
  • Are there best practices yet for monetizing widgets? (yes)
  • Do all marketing widgets need to have “social” features? (yes)
  • Are widgets a fad? (no)

Note: my personal opinions are in parenthesis, not necessarily reflecting others on the panel.

Usually when I’m on a panel or speaking at an event, there is one thing that I wish I had said more clearly or more loudly. Today, it was this:

Drop the lame-ass name “widget”; it’s embarrassing and devaluing. It is socially distributed publishing, and it’s revolutionizing web media! It harnesses consumers to distribute content and ads, enabling publishers and marketers to reach exponentially larger audiences than they ever could with a stationary, destination web site. It empowers consumers to pull in the content and advertising they want, rather than being forced-fed. It is the most significant trend in web media since the initial proliferation of web sites 12 years ago. People, this is no fad! Marketers: WAKE UP OR GET LEFT BEHIND!

I regret I didn’t shout that out more loudly today.

I also regret that I didn’t start an on-stage brawl with Matt Bijur, the KickApps VP. Turns out that Matt is actually a really cool & smart guy, despite his company affiliation. :-)

Thanks to Dylan Boyd for hosting and planning the panel discussion today! Great work!

Comments

12 Responses to “What the Heck are Widgets? (And why I hate “widgets”)”

  1. Ryan Williams on April 16th, 2008 9:27 pm

    Thanks for the review (and for being on the panel), I was one of the 10% non-marketers in attendance and it was a good introduction I thought. I agree it’s not a fad, you have to have a distributing publishing strategy, it’s going to become increasingly difficult to get users to your site all the time to use the app you’ve built there.

    I don’t think the widget term is going anywhere though. I kind of like it, it’s conceptually like putting widgets together to build a product in a factory. Easier to explain than socially distributed publishing in my view.

  2. » InnoTech Oregon 2008, Day 1 - Silicon Florist on April 16th, 2008 9:35 pm

    […] Berkley “What the heck are Widgets? (And why I hate ‘widgets’)“ “I spoke on a panel today called ‘What the Heck are Widgets?’ I shared the […]

  3. mike b. on April 17th, 2008 7:49 am

    How does the decision on what type of widget would be best for your company and how to strategically distribute it? (specifically an e-comm business model)

  4. Mike Berkley on April 17th, 2008 8:53 am

    Hey Mike B: that is a great question and the answer, as you might guess , requires more space than in this comments box. In general, however, widgets require something compelling for the consumer, whether it’s great content or a social game they play with their friends. The e-commerce element can then be built into the content or game, so that it is tightly integrated into the consumers’ “fun” experience. This has been a successful strategy for SplashCast. Go here to contact us for more details: http://splashcastmedia.com/web_contact

  5. Mel Adamson on April 18th, 2008 1:57 pm

    Hehe, that’s funny. You’re right, the widget name is devaluing and embarrassing. But just as the prune has become the dried plum … it can be changed.

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