Widgets 101 :
Picture-In-Picture Web
A look at Widgets, Micro Applications
and Portable Content
Blog: http://joannapenabickley.typepad.com
By: Joanna Peña-Bickley | SVP, Group Creative Director | Wunderman, New York
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What is a Widget?
• A widget is a web based application that can live on web
page, your desktop or on your operating system.
• A widget can facilitate:
– Portable content
– Sharing content with friends through viral functionality
such as:
 Send to a Friend
 Code Posts
 Or direct install into social networks or platforms
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Two Types of Widgets
There are two major categories of Widgets:
• Web Widgets
– Web Widgets run inside a web page and are also known as
“modules” or “badges”. Web Widgets allow anyone to
create their own website “mash-ups” by embedding content
from one site into a page on another site. These types of
Widgets are completely based on browser technologies —
HTML, Flash, etc. And while they have been around in various
forms for a while, the use of the term “Widget” to refer to
these web page modules is relatively new.
• Desktop Widgets
– Widgets have conventionally meant a desktop-based mini-
application that shows discreet information, often connected
to the Internet.
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What Are Widgets Used For?
• Distribute Information…answers, events, places, prices,
people
• Integrate information, analyze it and present it in
interesting ways… network for members, finding the right
job, e-learning
• Communicate… people to people by text, images, audio
video or virtual reality; through computers, phones or cell
phones for learning, advertising, sales, support, fun or
friends
• Create personalized, secure and self-serve experience
• Scheduling for events, facilities or services such as rooms,
meetings, transportation and people
• Shopping…From product/service research to inventory
selection to purchase to payment to shipping and delivery
• Community building for affinity or loyal groups, companies,
associations, fans, neighborhoods, schools or churches
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Why Use Widgets?
• Why Use a Desktop Widget?
– The advantages of a desktop widget over a web widget include:
 Lives outside of the browser
 Access to local resources
 Potential for offline use & background downloading
 Greater interaction with the rest of the system through standard
desktop interaction
 Desktop widgets blur the line between the web and the desktop
by pulling the content out of the browser and integrating it into
your desktop
• Why Use Web Widgets?
– They provide clear communications (without spam)
– Extend brand beyond website
– Powerful search engine optimization tool
– Placed by the user where it will be seen frequently
– They give you presence on home pages, blogs, Google strategy
page, MySpace, Facebook and cell phones
– They can present results to the user
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Widgets & Social Media
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Examples of Widgets - Web Widgets
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Examples of Widgets - Web Widgets
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Examples Of Widgets - Desktop Widgets
Harry Potter
Release Countdown CNN News Feed
YouTube - Apple Widget
Spa Finder
Apple: Retail
U2 Fan Widget
HBO
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Who Makes Up the Widget Landscape?
• Widget Box • Gigya
• Spring Widgets • Gizmoz
• Wdgty • FreeWebs
• Clear Spring • SnapVine
• Widggipedia
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How are they relevant?
• Widgets allow us to create and share content,
making it portable across the web, mobile
devices and television.
• They may it easy for us to share our favorite
content with our friends, family and
colleagues.
• We can wear our brands, communities and
special interests like a badge of honor.
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Measuring a Widget’s success: ComScore
Last June, ComScore announced that it would begin measuring widgets.
Widgets reached about 21% of the worldwide Internet audience in April,
ComScore found. About 40% of widget use, or 81 million of those people,
came from North America. Slide had the largest reach, followed by
RockYou, Picturetrail and Photobucket.
• Widget Penetration Highest in North America
– As more and more sites across the Internet employ Web widgets, the
worldwide penetration will continue to grow. In April, widget penetration was
highest in North America where 40.3 percent of Internet users visited a website
with an embedded widget, followed by Western Europe (24.3 percent) and
Latin America (17.5 percent).
• Widget Measurement Definitions
– The current universe of widgets is defined as embedded flash (.swf) objects.
The ComScore Widget Metrics service will evolve in its tracking of widget file
types as the market dynamics and content delivery systems change. The
report currently focuses on the individual widgets, and not the platforms that
deliver them.
– Desktop widgets are also not included.
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Measuring Your Widget’s Success
• There are a number of ways to track the distribution of your
widget.
– You can track
 the number of impressions served
 if you are serving video, the number of full views
 consumer data
 if you are selling something, purchases
 if you are a game, how many people played you
 if you are a toll,how many people used you
 how many people passed it on
 of the people who received it, how many of those people
posted it
 which social networks you are distributed in
 whose page you are appearing on
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Best Practices
• Use the widget to push
information
• Allow consumers to customize
your widget to their liking
• Make sure that your widget can
be distributed and is portable to
all social networking applications
• Keep it Simple!
– One thing at a time
• Give it one objective
• Make multiples if you can
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Widgets 101 :
Picture-In-Picture Web
A look at Widgets, Micro Applications
and Portable Content
More On Widgets @ http://joannapenabickley.typepad.com
By: Joanna Peña-Bickley | SVP, Group Creative Director | Wunderman, New York
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