The limits of widgets

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The limits of widgets

Kara’s point—and it’s one well taken—is that most of the “interactive” features of “social advertising” have yet to demonstrate any real and unique value to mainstream manufacturers. They’re still, in Kara’s words, “much more gimmicky and lightweight than innovative and deep.” (I’d venture that most users feel the same way.)

In their present incarnations, most widgets inhabit a no-mans-land between quick code, basic utility and cheesy ads. The best ones are useful, but struggle to extend that use-value into anything approaching an engagement or relationship.
From widgets to “personal brand applications”

I see the current crop of widgets as mostly dead ends in terms of building brand value. They’re a species that has no long-term future. However, they do foreshadow something bigger and better, which I call personal brand applications. It is at the application level that companies, brands and customers can forge new relationships that are indeed innovative, and deep.

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Comments

[Josh Larson]

I will have to respectfully disagree. While there are a lot of gimmicky, superficial widgets out there, there are certainly examples of widgets that are both innovate and deep that do foster engagement and interaction.

Some of the Discovery widgets are about the best out there, such as the "Take Tech With You Widget" -- http://dsc.discovery.com/technology/index.html -- which is tabbed for video, experts and blogs, and is viral.

While this and widgets like it may be the exception rather than the rule, they do exist.

[Tom Turnbull]

I'm not sure that I follow this. The argument seems to be that "widgets, in their current state, aren't perfect. Therefore, they have no future." I would start from the other end. Compare the power of a well designed and executed widget to that of a banner ad. When viewed through that lens, it's a very different story. I would argue that widgets, even in their current incarnation, are a very interesting evolutionary step in online marketing. We are just getting started.