StickiWidgets

Joost announces their API via their forum. The forum post provides the login info to access their API development site so you can play with the API.

“There have been a lot of changes and improvements to Joost recently. One that you might not have noticed is that with the newest release – Joost 0.12.0 – a new Widget API is available that makes it possible for third parties to create their own Joost widgets.”

Hi5 introduces their new widget gallery. Currently, the gallery only includes widgets from Slide and RockYou, but it looks like they are looking to expand the offerings. If you are a widget developer, they would like to hear from you via their contact form.

“We’re pleased to announce our new widget gallery. Widgets allow you to add all kinds of interesting content to your profile — slide-shows, games and more.”

Hi5 is also beta testing their API.

“Welcome to the API for Hi5.com We’ve got a full SOAP API, and even a few REST endpoints. Feel free to check it out!”

Widget Summit 2007 Announced

“Widget Summit is a two-day conference on widgets and content syndication. Web pages have gotten smaller, dynamic, and distributed as components within the desktop, personalized homepage, social network, blog sidebars, mobile phones, and even dedicated hardware. Today’s publishers need to reach their audience wherever and whenever they may choose to interact with content. Widgets lead the way towards a distributed web loosely joined.”

[all of the above via Snipperoo Blog]

We haven’t been around Ning for a while and our hockey network was a big flop. But, with the upcoming season we stopped by to see where we left off. It’s not pretty. There are a whopping 4 members for Center Ice. Then we noticed a new (to us) badges and widgets section. Clicking through, we were presented with 4 badges/widgets to grab and help promote your Nine network. So, with the upcoming season and the badges, we are going to put some more effort into our little Center Ice hockey network on Ning. Maybe this time around we can actually get some traction, armed with the new badges/widgets and a renewed drive.

Badges:
1) Profile Badge - Tell others you are a member of a Ning network.

View my profile on Center Ice

2/3) Small/Large Network Badges - Displays the network name and some info about membership.

Widget:
4) Music Player - Allows playback of playlists. (blank example since it doesn’t apply to our Center Ice network)

Find more music like this on Center Ice

Each one of the badges/widgets allow for basic customizations. While these are pretty basic, it is a nice easy way for people to try and get visibility for their Ning networks and hope to grow their memberships and traffic.

So, if you’re into hockey, feel free to drop by and help build the community. There’s NHL highlights from YouTube, complete games from Google Video search, NHL News and Scores, forum and IRC chat.

Probably not the correct medical analogy here, but if you want to stop the viral spread of a widget here is a how to do it.

One of our readers tipped us off to a widget for D.C. United (US soccer team). At initial look it was a nicely designed widget. There was a video player showing game highlights (we would have preferred that it was not auto play) and a scrolling news feed. Additional buttons and menu items take you to various other options and web properties like the merchandise shop or the ticketing office. Overall it was something worth getting and we tried.

Here is where the widget went south. Clicking the “copy me” button launched a new window with a registration page. The requested information consisted of a TOS agreement, email, destination URL and site description. All we wanted was to grab the widget to show off and promote U.S. soccer (MLS) and D.C. United. Why do I need to read and agree to a TOS? Why do I need to disclose where this is going or provide an email address?

Entering fake information produced valid embed code, but that would obviously be against the TOS so we entered our real info. Reading into the TOS, it seems like there is some sort of affiliate system available or network that the information could be used for. However, preliminary search didn’t reveal much information.

We understand that there are other factors at play here. Maybe it’s marketing, legal or branding. Or, maybe it’s for the affiliate program. But, whatever it is, it seems like it could have been streamlined and done differently. For example, if a fan of the team wants the widget, just let them copy it. If they want to join an affiliate program or network, then make them register. If it weren’t for the fact that we evaluate and blog about widgets, we wouldn’t have actually registered and grabbed the widget.

Of course, we wanted to see if this really meant anything. After all, it seems like a widget that would be popular. Digging around and following the powered by info lead us to Real Time Matrix and their iJ.am Vortex widget. Apparently, they introduced the Vortex widget at the July 27, 2007 TechCrunch Party and even have a TechCrunch widget on their company homepage. The TechCrunch widget is slightly different than the D.C. United widget, indicating that the iJ.am Vortex widget is a flexible system. Trying to copy the TechCrunch widget resulted in the same registration form.

One would think that the widget features and the content provided would help spread the widgets and make them popular. That’s just not the case. We haven’t heard or come across much regarding the 2 specific widgets nor the iJ.am Vortex widget. Quick searches revealed little more. Our opinion is that the registration page and process is a major problem. Obviously marketing is a complex system and we are not saying the registration page is the only issue, but it definitely does not help the viral spread of the widget.

Other non iJ.am Vortex widgets on the Real Time Matrix site do allow copies without the registration process. So, there seems to be more to this and the registration process was intentionally included for a reason. If anyone has info, feel free to drop us a note.

To see the widget, go to the D.C. United Vortex widget page or Real Time Matrix homepage for the TechCrunch version.