The Widgetization of the Web
Widgets are taking over the web, small pieces at a time. Big web destinations are opening their templates to custom configurations by users and pre-configurations with special partners. Mix and match your favorite content from around the web on your personal start page from Microsoft, Google, or Netvibes. Share a few live and always updating bits of information in your blog sidebar using widgets on WordPress or TypePad.
Small(er) businesses can leverage the huge distributions of users across most of the top web properties. Over half of the top Internet companies for home users currently open up their pages for easy setup of your content.
Parent Co. | Unique Audience (000) | Reach % | Time Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|
Microsoft | 59,378 | 51.45 | 00:32:54 |
Yahoo! | 56,000 | 48.52 | 00:49:28 |
Time Warner | 53,196 | 46.09 | 01:20:08 |
45,544 | 39.46 | 00:10:44 | |
News Corp. Online | 24,590 | 21.31 | 00:43:56 |
eBay | 21,394 | 18.54 | 00:36:59 |
InterActiveCorp | 17,822 | 15.44 | 00:10:36 |
RealNetworks, Inc. | 12,740 | 11.04 | 00:27:28 |
Amazon | 12,352 | 10.70 | 00:09:29 |
Apple Computer | 12,003 | 10.40 | 00:31:13 |
Data from Nielsen//NetRaings, week of July 5.
Each of the companies highlighted in yellow has an potential audience waiting for content and information from your webapp. What fresh content and information would you like to present to your users and their readers anywhere at any time?
Widgets are simply composed of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) with optional Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for styling and JavaScript for rich interaction. A few sites require an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to tie all your files together as well.
Image by PostApp
Widgets can include the latest inbound links to your blog as tracked by Technorati, your current availability on an Instant Messaging (IM) network, or the top stories on Digg. Some widgets can be extended to your desktop using software from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, Apple, and others.
New ecosystems are springing up around widget-enabled sites. Companies such YouTube and Slide receive the majority of their traffic from embedded content on MySpace. Google has created an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for their gadgets. Startup company PostApp is creating an entire business around widget syndication. It’s only just the beginning of widget services across the web.
Om Malik and I discuss in more detail the current state of the widget web in this week’s PodSession named Widgetization of the Web. The podcast is 23 minutes in length, a 10 megabyte (MB) download.