Hillary Needs a Widget

Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination, does not have a widget.

I refer, of course, to those faddish interactive programettes that people put on their blogs, websites, MySpace or FaceBook pages, iGoogle pages, and (even, sometimes) Vista desktops. (Brother Google calls them Gadgets.) These programs deliver news, produce calculations, update statistics, offer games and create various types of exchanges between user and widgeteer. Anybody who wants to build audience in the 2.0 space either has them, will have them soon, or are likely to fall behind some competitor who is using widgets to distribute content, deliver ads, or draw audience. 

Hillary Clinton is the only front-of-the-pack candidate who does not have a widget. Her Web site offers plenty of ways to get involved with her campaign. But if you want to stick an interactive Hill-o-Widget on your blog to spread the good word, you’re out of luck. 

Let’s look at the other Democratic candidates’  positions on the widgetization issue, and other uses of 2.0 technotricks.

Barak Obama has news and video widgets . 2.Oh Points for. . .his Our Story interactive timeline, and invitation to make your own. I have no idea what to make of this.

John Edwards has a Mac-only widget. Yeesh. Is Steve Jobs a major contributor? When the post-primary analysis is done, will Edwards’ failure to capitulate to Windows hedgemony turn out to be his key failing? 2.Oh points for. . .Technical Corner, a remarkably patient and detailed work of nerdania that explains to Edwardians how to use all sorts of viral technologies to support their guy.

Bill Richardson: No widget. 2.Oh Points for. . .”En Espanol” link on the top navigation

Mike Gravel: No widget. 2.Oh Points for. . .a Second Life campaign booth.

Dennis Kucinich: No widget. 2.Oh Points for. . .”Text Dennis” feature 

Joe Biden: No widget. 2.Oh Points for. . .um, site map at bottom of the page?  

So, Hillary: Your two most serious competitors are way ahead of you in the widget race. By not having a widget, you are keeping bad company, the folks at the back of the pack. The very people you decline to engage on the campaign trail in order to present yourself as above the fray.

Hillary: Get a widget. 

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The 2.D’oh! Weekly Round-Up: Vol. I

As we head into the weekend, let’s take a quick look at the lowlights, high points and general mischief around 2.0ville during the past week.

Talk About viral: The Online Video Contagion Spreads

The Center for Media Research reports that 132 million Americans viewed online video in the month of May. Average time spent during the month was 158 minutes. I’m bad at math that goes beyond nine figures, but I think that’s a total of 350 million hours never to be retrieved. I think if that time had been spent teaching poor kids to read, we could have in one swoop made American kids more literate than their French counterparts, or maybe even the Germans, just like that. Ah, well. There’s always June.

Lost, the 2.0 Version

Today the New York Times has an excellent article about the development of UGC maps, where Wikipedia meets Flickr meets MySpace and GoogleMaps [I think that meeting place is here, but I’m not sure].  

Nobody Goes There Anymore, It’s Too Crowded

Wired has an excellent article on Second Life by Frank Rose, revealing how marketers have invested heavily in ad campaigns there, only to find the place virtually (har!) deserted. Too bad: We’ve been hoping to see a “Nigerian Bank Fund Transfer” pavilion in Second Life any day now. “Drop off your Social Security card to enter our free sweepstakes!” 

And Finally, Our Friday ‘Noted Without Comment’ Item

http://glimpseback.com/