When it was launched, Google’s AdSense broke new ground…
AdSense was different in two ways. First, it was simple, making it easy for individual publishers like bloggers to place ads into their sites and start generating some revenue for themselves. Second, before serving up an ad, it analyzed the content on a page so it could display one that was relevant to it. It replaced the unfocused and intrusive model that came before it, and changed the way people looked at ads on the web – some of them were actually useful!
I would like to see a similar model develop for widgets…
If you go on to most blogs, the side bars are loaded with various widgets – small utilities that display different types of information. These widgets typically reflect the interests of the blogger, providing a snapshot of things that they care about. While these are often interesting on their own, what could be even more interesting would be having different widgets display based on their relevance to a post. Having different classes of widgets show up based on context, and then display contextually relevant things, could have a lot of value to readers.
It could also become a new form of soft advertising…
Let’s consider an ‘Amazon’ widget as an example. If I’m reading a post on a particular book, I might like to see Amazon’s widget on the side showing this book’s rating, and a list of similar books people have bought. I may like to have it do the same thing for posts on consumer electronics. But I probably wouldn’t want to see it there at all for posts on finance or sports. Those might be better served by a “SeekingAlpha” widget or an “ESPN” widget. I used these companies only as ficticious examples to make the point that I should see only those widgets that are relevant at that point in time. And that when they do display, they should be interesting, on topic and current. WidgetSense!
It would also be powerful if readers could control what widgets they see…
As a reader, I could see having my own stable of widgets that move with me from site to site. Some might be utilities like a schedule/calendar widget, and some could be advertiser based tools like reservation widgets for hotel chains or airlines. These widgets would likely plug in to a browser or a feed reader, and show up on a side bar based on what I was looking at. The commercial model here could be transaction based, and offer something to both the individual using the widget (they picked it) and the site they used it on (they ‘lit it up’).
I believe widgets will play an increasingly important role in the evolution of the internet. They are a perfect fit in the growing social computing model, and can offer value on many different platforms. Widgets will probably be one of the key aspects of what ends up being ‘Web 3.0″
They simply need to get a bit smarter first…