There will always be wars between dueling hardware, software, platforms, websites and more. A few years ago the browser wars basically ended. Some may say it is still being waged but the recent shut down of Netscape marked the true end.

The thought has been brewing in my mind for awhile about the “battles” being waged across different sites, platforms, operating systems, and other areas. The culmination of this brainstorming has left me thinking a lot about embeddibility and how the future of applications and software will be distributed. My conclusion is that we are entering into a new phase of the war for the killer app which will be known as the Widget Wars.

Lets take a look at exactly what I am talking about. Defining all sides and iterations may be impossible at this point but creating some foundation for my argument seems like a good start.

What is a widget?
Yahoo has one definition of a widget (specific to their product of course).
WordPress.com has another widget definition.
Should we use the Internet.com definition of widget?
The Opera Browser has widgets.
Google calls them Gadgets.
Google also has widget advertising called Gadget Ads.
Apple of course has widgets.
But wait, Windows Vista has widgets called Gadgets too!

The definition (of a web widget) of a widget from Wikipedia is as follows:

The web widget is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation. They are derived from the idea of code reuse. Other terms used to describe web widgets including: gadget, badge, module, capsule, snippet, mini and flake. Web widgets often but not always use DHTML, JavaScript, or Adobe Flash.

I have spoken before about blidgets, and of course blog bling, and other blog sidebar fun but the true definition to me is as follows;
A widget is a portable platform interface designed for content consumption outside of its original published location, with the same or comparable functionality to its original condition.

There has been a lot written recently about widgets and there have been some recent articles worth mentioning. First is the team up between DoubleClick (now Google) and Gigya widget network. It shows the potential of widgets as an advertising platform, as well as the importance of them as a new channel.

Next Jeremiah outlines the challenges of widgets as a whole and helps bring more definition to the category. I think his challenges are valid, but many of them are “fixable” if you have a solid strategy.

One of the biggest challenges behind widgets are that a very generic name, “widget”, can be given to such a unique suite of applications and there is no set strategy. In most cases the metric of success varies greatly from widget to widget. This also helps my definition come into being;

Below are just some of the metrics of success for a widget;

1. Time spent
2. Driving people back to your site
3. Interaction with the widget (playing video, viewing pics, filling out a form)
4. Embedadability – do people spread it around and re-seed?
5. Number of times it is emailed
6. UGC uploaded
…and the list goes on.

Many marketers want to have a widget strategy. I think the reason why the word widget is so great is that it can, and has been, used to describe anything.

Remember in school when the make believe company produced X number of Widgets per year?

There is not a finite widget strategy that can be deployed for every company out there. Just to be clear, there is not a single silver bullet widget strategy.

In the short amount of time widgets have been around, there has even been an evolution that has occurred. According to Niall’s widget timeline widgets have been around for awhile. According to my own timeline, I would say 2002.

Who is making the widgets? A lot of companies, people, freelancers, media properties, search engines, consulting groups, and individuals. Here is a list of just a few of the places;MuseStorm,ClearSpring,LabPixies, Gigya, WidgetBox, GoodWidgets, and many more.

So let me get back to the original point. The new turf for consumer attention can be anywhere that supports a little bit of code and has a web connection. This means that publishers and creators can push out the latest iteration of their widget to wherever you are, hoping for some of the success points listed above.

Are widgets the holy grail of advertising?

No. They do not force people into buying your product, no advertisement does that. But they do allow advertisers to participate in the current real estate of ads online in a new dynamic way that many people have not seen before. We will soon see the end of banner ads that have no user interaction as they will seem pointless. Clicks cannot continue to be used as a metric of success on their own, but must be coupled with another action.

Just take a look at the latest video ads from Google. What are those if not simple widgets? Pretty soon even our beloved text only ads will become widgetized.

So the battle ground has been set.

Every piece of business and company I have spoken to recently has used the word widgets. This does not make a successful platform because some of them use it incorrectly, but most use it well. Using widgets has become part of most marketing plans. The quest is now; how do we do it correctly?

This is where some if not all of the companies mentioned above will come in. They will be fighting for advertiser dollars to get them involved in their network. From building widgets from scratch, to interoperability between systems, to importing your existing collateral – the battle will be on. The barriers to enter the market are down for both the creator and the publisher. This means that in the end the consumer will win. Innovation usually comes through at this point, and the weaker less innovative thinkers will hopefully die off.

I believe that we will see a growing battle of;

1. Installs
2. Distribution networks
3. Plays
4. Showings
5. Embeds
etc…

The widget action wars will be like the “Impression Wars” that were fought up until now with the banner networks. The more action items you have in your distribution network, or the more activity your widget gets the better you will be doing.

Welcome to the widget wars.

(side note:This post is my attempt to get away from the Lazysphere.)