[11/08 - text translated from french version, english as second language, version might be corrected and updated, figure image still in french]

Fasten your seat belt, the widget revolution is flying up ! But what are exactly all theses widgets ? Let’s look it like a gadget, one easy-to-use application, something which has to be practical for its user, to simplify as much as possible to get the essentiel mean, and here the essential is : your product, your service, your branding ! Let’s have a look in this article how to figure the new widget marketing and “ecosystem”, about the innovation who open its fiel from Internet over all new medias from the numeric convergence.

Some history.

At the beginning, Apple with the OS propose for all users the dashboard accessing with one touch lots of different informations and services, everything with small gadgets on the same screen : weather forecast, contacts, latest charts release, stock exchange, news,… So user-friendly and popular that Windows Vista key features is to integrate the widgets, and opening the market to a wide range of developpers and widgets providers. Everything can know be placed on our desktop, the latest area where marketing could work. People can personnalize their medias wit all their favorites brands via widgets, and marketers have a look of the user profile, a real challenge is open for e-marketing ! The widget becomes prolongation from the brand materialized like tiny virtual gadgets who follow users on their desktop, blogs, mobiles (big market opening with iPhones, Blackberrys, future GPhone and at the same time all APIs and catalogs from social networks).

Yahoo put the fire on when buy Konfabulator, Google wide the users with way to put “gadgets” on the iGoogle home page, and Facebook propose the applications tu put on user’s profile. Different way to name the widgets but the same concept a new economic model to developp promotion for brands, access to services and lots of trafic for advertisers. On the telecoms, the same integration into this model, all new phone are designed to install such applications and give their user access to services (cinema tickets, MP3 catalog,…), here’s another way to get customer loyal and big users.

All these things brings today the widget very popular, easy and sexy. People want to try them, share them and a new model of diffusion gives brands more visibility. New websites open everyday to do widget shopping, from your computer or directly from your phone, buzz marketing strategies works very well and widgets get into fashion trends !

One concept which created a new media.

This concept is indeed so practical to save time and making web complexity easyer that widgets are like the good side from all web 2.0, their goal is to catch all the services and put them in a box : RSS, picture viewer, XML integration from news from other sources (the social networking) and everyday new application to transform code into easy buttons. Here’s a very clear figure explaining the widget/web2.0 technology.

Here’s a figure showing the widget model with an example from a non Internet product:
http://patricealbertus.net/_blog/wp-content/uploads/widget-marketing.png

8 VERY good reasons to widgetize your marketing :

• Be prepared and think about new projects because Facebook, one big leader in social networks open vos idées et vos projets car Facebook, leader des réseaux sociaux ouvre its applications catalog to search engines, widgets is not only a code tu install, it’s an information you share.
• Ruppet Murdoch, media magnat invest into MySpace, and Microsoft get the partnership with to defy Facebook with bringing MySpace community more widgetizable for users, another market for your next campaigns !
• With the same view, Google OpenSocial, access to all Google APIs to integrate them into your solutions (ex: why not putting a map into your outlet finder). That’s a streng signal for the next web generation, more support from the californian firm to help you and one peer-to-peer vision with its partners (Google’s strategy to hook Facebook and MySpace into social networks),
• In France, SFR working on a widgets catalog for its mobiles users,
• Most of the search engines propose still last year to personalize your homeage with widgets (Windows Live, iGoogle, My Yahoo,…),
• Last mobiles phones use standards dev languages to install and run widget, one-click, one buy ! Don’t miss to be indexed on all catalogs.
• Social networks trend removes the border between web and mobile, and users can know do facebooking everywhere ! The iPhone makes as much as owners than jealous, as well as Blackberry developp in the same way.
• The free applications and widgets get into the profit model (Slide company developping on Facebook probably valorized at 200M$)
• .. so ?

More than another innovation coming from the web.

The big interrest from this widget trend is that widgets are more than an ICT, it’s a whole marketing concept. When you look all of the widgets on the web, you see that there’s no standard model or structure to follow. Thw widget are all communication campaign concentrated into a tiny tool, which people can find practile, usefull (hope not!), or revolutionist. Goal is to put the branding strategy into the concept.

Other interresting thing, widgets become multi-medias, multi-support, and effectiveness is that you won’t need to developp one specific tool for each support : technologies and languages from web and mobiles can operate the same widgets today ! Mobiles display web, web works on mobiles. So, one concept, on or more services associated, one widget and many new medias : here’s your next adverising campaign. Add with this features a larger and cheaper diffusion due to free users sharing and commitment, more mobiles than wire phone in Europe (article on the issue), and wireless covering many public spaces, new medias and widgets are really relevant solutions for the next years !

Finally ?

Widgets gives very good assets and a serious reason to think your new marketing 2.0 strategies : Developpment cost cheap, high supports compatibility, multimedias, exponential diffusion and visibility, user interractivity with your informations monitoring… That looks like increasing outputs model, so be aware cause like every fashion item, it’s only the winner who becomes the reference and wins everything. If you want to devellop widgets or integrate your branding into them, there is already widgets agencies on the market, widget economy is not a gadget anymore !