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Understanding Widgets - Alex Funk Interview

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At a recent Mixergy tech event, Alex Funk of digital-telepathy told me that he’s amazed that some companies don’t have a widget strategy. He’s been giving presentations about how companies can use widgets to grow, and some people don’t even know what a widget is, let alone how to create one for their users.

I got on the phone with him and asked him to teach me so I could blog about it. You can download a recording of our call below, but here are my notes.

A widget is anything that can be taken off of a web site and run somewhere else.

There are 3 kids of widgets:

  • Self-expression widgets -  enable people to show off who they are and what they’re passionate about. A good example is a flickr widget that lets people post their pictures.
  • Enhancement widgets - add functionality to a web site. Guestbook widgets are a popular example.

5 things we need to know about creating widgets:
1) You have to understand your customer - Southwest was able to get people to download and install Ding! a widget that does nothing but sell tickets because they knew their customers will go out of their way to find good deals.

2) Focus on just one thing - Think about how the YouTube video widget only lets you view video. You can’t upload videos. You can’t comment on videos. You can only do one thing. It’s tempting to add more features, but widgets need to be kept simple so users can figure them out instantly.

3) You don’t have to make your own - Alex suggests using Clearspring and/or Widgetbox to develop your widgets. They have the tools to make widget creation easy.

4)  Everything will be widgetized - No matter what you’re working on, Alex says you can find a way to let others take it off your domain and put it anywhere they want. In the future, everything will be widgetized

5) Go cross-platform -  Don’t limit your distribution. You should think about ways to let people interact with your product on other web sites, on different computer platforms (Mac/Windows/anything), on mobile phones, and anywhere else.
Right click to download a recording of our call (38 minutes)

July 2, 2008 | Filed Under Interview, podcast 

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4 Responses to “Understanding Widgets - Alex Funk Interview”

  1. Widgets Interview - Mixergy.com | addi+ions blog: Insights from the Internet Obsessed on July 2nd, 2008

    [...] You can read and listen to the phone interview on his blog here. [...]

  2. Alex Funk on July 2nd, 2008

    Thanks again Andrew, widgets is such a hot topic they really do need to be part of your combined web/marketing strategy. We’re looking at so many projects and all of them have the potential for some sort of widgetized content.

  3. Michael Dorausch on July 2nd, 2008

    Alex knows his stuff on widgets and this is another great interview Andrew. It’s great to have access to these valuable audio recordings you are making. Many thanks!

  4. Metablocks | Widget Trend and News Update - Widget, Gadget and Social Media App Design and Development on July 4th, 2008

    [...] Understanding Widgets: Not a trend or news piece but nice short post that helps “frame” widgets for those thinking about have one developed. [...]

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