Honey I shrunk the Internet

Widget sized branding

The web has gone macro; embeddable content is now the new driver thanks to the rise in social networking sites:

* Digital download shop 7digital and the Nationwide Mercury Prize have partnered to create a widget for music fans. The widget will allow consumers to hear tracks from the 11 albums nominated for this year’s music prize including Bat for Lashes, Dizee Rascal and Amy Winehouse.

* ReverbNation has set up a Facebook widget in order to sell direct from its 70,000-strong catalogue. The MyBand widget will also enable artists to sell unlimited tracks from their Facebook pages.

According to ComScore, 40% of Internet users have visited a page via a widget. How can brands capitalise on this uptake?

Widgets, because of their parasitical embedded nature, see the brand entering into a relationship directly with a consumer. No longer is the brand detached; the foot is very much in the
virtual door.

However “the idea of a widget is not new”, said iLike CEO Ali Partovie. “The major shift is that Facebook has completely changed the rules of the game.” Music recommendation widget iLike is growing by 2-3M users a month on Facebook so how long before brands crash the party?

See this month’s Five Eight magazine for more insight into the embeddable world of widgets: www.fiveeight.net