The Maturation of Widgets
Looks like widgets are about to grow up. BusinessWeek says many social networks and widget makers are dancing around the idea of revenue share agreements. Once money enters the equation, the widget world will go from "mindless accessories" to "new business opportunity."According to BusinessWeek, social networks like Facebook and MySpace have a love-hate relationship with widgets. The customization and personalization widgets bring to social networks inspires users to hang around longer, but savvy widget makers are actively pursuing advertising and sponsorship opportunities, and that could eat into the ad value of social network pages.
I'll be interested to see if a revenue share agreement catches on with widgets. I love the idea of using widgets to free information from Web site silos. If there's a way to make a few extra bucks in the process, all the better. Of course, "enterprise class" instant messaging was supposed to open new revenue streams as well, and as far as I know that never came to fruition. Will widgets follow the IM path, or is there a real opportunity?
Note: The "jobs" box in the right-hand rail of the Indiepub Blog is a widget that, technically, could bring in a little revenue. I just added it to the site so I have no idea how viable it is.
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