Widgets

I'm interested: How do you use widgets? If your company DOESN'T use widgets to brand/promote themselves would you like to, and how? Which company/non-company widgets do you like best or use the most?

Widgets come in all shapes and sizes. Most companies are embracing this technology driven phenomenon while, others are still struggling to realize what hit them in the past five years. Google is always a prime example for everything in simplicity: igoogle.com has a zillion widget combination possibilities for any users homepage. Facebook also offers the same plethora  of options for user profiles. Recently one of the most popular facebook widgets, Scrabulous, came under a bit of scrutiny from Scrabble's trademark owners hasburo (us owner) and mattel (has international trademark rights to the game). They wanted to have the widget removed, and sued the scrabulous makers from India. Over 65,000 facebook users joined a save scrabulous group, and for now it is still available.

So what exactly is a widget? It is an application, link, or badge that is available online for download. Many times it can be used as a desktop application. It can also be used to show a users likes/dislikes on a social community. In the application form it can be a game, a dictionary, a poll, test, or other interactive tool. Generally the makers either offer a copy and paste code or the application is linked/downloadable to specific pages or your desktop.

If I missed anything or you would like to share more please feel free to leave me a comment or ask me directly @desaraev on twitter.