Robin Blandford [ ByteSurgery.com ]

08/01/08 To think about widgets…

SINGAPORE - This is Part III of my Widgets Infosheet.

A number of different forces are at play and widgets require a different mindset to creating regular applications or web-sites.

You’ve got one chance

Attention is at a premium. Naturally a widget is never at the core functionality of a visit – people happen across widgets. You are fighting for the time of the user, they are being constantly drawn away by the reason they came to the page or distracted by competing widgets. You have one chance, one pass of the eyes to get your users attention as they scroll through the page. A good widget will,

1. look & feel good enough to attract users,
2. appear to create added value for the user,
3. achieve their goal as fast as possible.

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Permission To Engage

By installing your widget, a user has already given you permission to engage with them or their users. They’ve already given you screen real-estateyou’re your widget as they think you will provide relevant information to their visitors. The hard work of acceptance is done, you’ve already got permission to talk to them so jump straight into adding value.

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Want widgets?

The only thing better than creating your own widgets – is to have someone create them for you as a third-party. To encourage people to use your data in their widgets you must open access to it. For informational widgets - provide data in common standards (RSS, Atom) and advertise the feed locations clearly. If you want interactive widgets then create a well documented API (Application Programming Interface) to your application.

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Monetisation

Google Adsense is a classic example of a widget where a snippet of code is embedded into a page and it displays updating content, in this case adverts. The ultimate success of the Adsense widget is that the core functionality is monetisation (the advert) rather than being a secondary function. The inclusion of visible ads as a secondary function can be considered as a barrier to installation when they add no value to the installer or user. Widgets are best suited to use subtle branding and inviting click-through content or product features to aid monetisation as a secondary function. In the case of more interactive widgets the value may come in having the scale of users a widget may provide access to.

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Summary

The ‘widgetisation’ of content is considered an important part of open content distribution. By providing the tools for developers to interact with your data it will encourage the creation of third-party widgets and tools. Easy-to-share widgets are a simple, controlled & economic method of viral brand awareness.

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Events Attended

6th December 2007 – Widgety Goodness, Brighton, UK.

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Any suggestions on the next topic?!

-Robin.

Tags: brighton, event, infosheet, London, uk, widget, widgets, widgety goodness

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