E-Media Tidbits

widgets.yahoo.com Yahoo's widget gallery already offers widgets from several news orgs. Most are just headlines, but widgets can do much more for news.

On Mar. 9, I wrote about an interesting news widget published by the Allentown, Pa. Morning Call. This widget was basically a search interface to an online database created as part of the paper's Sunshine Week investigative feature about the state's reputation as the "puppy mill" capitol of the nation.

Yeah, that's cool -- but so what?

Yesterday, the paper's online editor Chris Krewson e-mailed me with an update. He wrote:

"To spread the word about the database, before it launched we moved a shortened version of our investigation to AP, along with a note from our managing editor to member papers telling them about the database and pointing their Webmasters to our page.

"To our knowledge the database was used by Web sites for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Bucks County (Pa.) Courier Times (Calkins Media), the Centre Daily Times (McClatchy) and other smaller papers.

"In addition, I reached out to bloggers. So several pet blogs and activist sites (such as pet-abuse.com) picked it up.

"Through the month of March, traffic was good -- better than the average database, not as high as another high-interest topic, restaurant inspection reports. Although that, frankly, I expected.

"But the most interesting figure is this: 33.17 percent of the searches for the database came from sites other than mcall.com."

...That, in a nutshell, is the "so what" of widgets: Making your content more visible and findable, engaging people through interaction, and giving more people a reason to visit your site. Of course, there are also branding benefits. And there are advertising models for widgets, too.

If your news org decides to make a widget -- whether to promote a special feature or service, or simply to serve your top stories, photos, puzzles, cartoons, or other content -- I've got an additional suggestion for getting it out there. Make sure you submit your widget to appropriate widget directories, such as Widgetbox and Yahoo Widgets. Here's Apple's directory of Mac dashboard widgets.

If you're looking for good ideas about what you can do with widgets, subscribe to the Sexy Widget blog.

What else are news orgs doing with widgets? What would you like to see them try? Please comment below.