Personalized start pages and web widgets have been on my mind a lot lately. As I add these gadgets to my Windows Live, Netvibes and Google.com/ig pages, I am spending far less time other sites. In fact, it's now possible to add so many collapsible modules to your tabs/pages, that you rarely need to go anywhere else. The fact that both Google and Microsoft allow you to port these pages to a mobile device is an added boon. The future of the web (dare I say Web 3.0?) will look just like a Swiss Army Knife and it's going to be extremely disruptive.
Here are a few screenshots of the widgets that are embedded in my personalized Google home page. These modules are worth pointing out because they enable you to conduct business without ever having to leave the page. Many widgets are just glorified RSS feeds. These babies are truly notable because they are indicative of what the widgetized web will look like in the years ahead. You can see a future where these pages become as essential as a Swiss Army Knife is to a camper.
First up is the Google Reader widget. Using this feature, you can whip through all of your Google Reader RSS feeds. Google let's you browse feeds by label, star items and view individual feed items without ever leaving the page. This has reduced my need to visit the actual app when all I want to do is scan some of my favorite feeds.
Another indispensable widget is from Bitty Browser. This tool lets you embed literally dozens of Web sites inside your start page. You can even add multiple instances of the widget and customize each one to open up a different site.
In my case, I have a Bitty widget automatically open up the mobile version of my personal Socialtext wiki. I use it add notes to my wiki, record entries in my private daily business diary blog and even search through the archives. Socialtext even lets you add feeds to your pages for quick browsing. Again, I do all of this without ever having to go to the Socialtext URL.
A critical widget I keep on my personalized dashboard is from Box.net. Using this module I am able to download/upload files and more. It turns your start page into a hard drive.
Last but not least, weather has a big impact on my day. When I am in NY, it can affect my commute. When I am traveling, it obviously can have greater ramifications. I have a separate tab on my Google page just for weather information. As you can see below, it not only includes the forecast, but current local temps, sunrise/sunset times, phases of the moon, local radar and even a live camera image from a school near my apartment. Again, all of this streams to my Swiss Army Knife page without ever having to visit a weather site.
Now I am not your average user. Like many of you, I am a tinkerer and an early adopter. I like to play around with new sites. So the majority of Web users aren't using personalized start pages just yet...but they will. And as we all get hooked, there's going to be a real boom in widget innovation. The picture-in-picture Web is in the first inning and as it takes off, we're going to see some dramatic changes.
Widgets and gadgets are going to be just as disruptive as RSS, blogs, Wikipedia, social networks and other recent developments - perhaps even more so. The reason is that as people begin to get familiar with these tools and the widgets get more sophisticated, we will spend less time going from property to property. This means that over time big web sites will generate fewer page views, which means that advertising CPMs could plummet.
So what's a content site to do? If you widgetize your content, you run the risk that people will mostly access you off their start pages. If you don't, your competitors will. This is why big media sites are wisely creating their own start pages. The idea here is to get the users hooked now so they don't go anywhere else. By keeping them in the fold, these web sites will be able to hold on to their users and serve up ads.
But what if the advertisers themselves get into this game. What if big brands start creating Swiss Army Knife start pages packed with valuable coupons, deals and more. What if brands turn themselves into a platform and allow individuals to embed RSS feeds and media widgets to these pages? Boy would that turn the tables, huh? Maybe the media will start paying brands to feature their content.
All of this is just the beginning. But the future is clear. Widgets are going to upset a lot of apple carts. The future of the Web looks like a Swiss Army Knife.
