Article: “Widgets and Monetization,” from the Sexy Widget blog, discusses the monetization portion of the widget value chain. Suggests using widgets as a monetization platform rather than a simple embedded functionality, such as an embedded browser widget that allows users to click-through and investigate advertisements without leaving a host website.

Article: “Another View on Widgets,” by Brad Feld, a managing director at the venture capital fund Foundry Group and Mobius Venture Capital, in contrast to David Cohen’s article entitled, “Big or Bullshit: Widgets.” Feld believes that although widgets are highly valuable because of their utility for publishers (and users) of web content, it would be difficult to establish a mini-application business platform worthy of capital funding.

Article: “Big or Bullshit: Widgets,” by entrepreneur, investor and technologist David Cohen, addresses the question of whether or not widgets provide a monetizable platform for web business and ultimately concludes that they will act as a viral advertising model for widget developers, driven by web users’ desire to utilize mini-application functionality.

Article: “The Widgetization of the Web,” by Heather Havenstein of Computerworld.com, discusses the development of mini-applications for rich media advertising and provides insight from several industry leaders on the monetization and marketing potential of widgets.

Blog entry: “Widgets, Widgets, Everywhere,” from HighContrast, the innovation and venture capital blog of Simeon Simeonov, a technology partner at Polaris Venture Capital and former VP of Emerging Technologies at Macromedia (now Adobe). Article discusses the content value of widgets and offers insight into several aspects of widget monetization including discovery, distribution, analytics, monetization enablement and marketing.

Article: “New Media: Marketers Wend Widgets into Interactive Tactics,” by Brian Morrissey of BrandWeek.com, discusses the potential of branded widgets to function as highly-targeted permission advertising. Offers examples including the Honda Acura RDX Yahoo! Widget, which provides real-time desktop traffic updates, and the Jimmy Dean HappyNews Ticker, which displays uplifting headlines from Happynews.com and promotes Jimmy Dean sausage’s “Happy Breakfast” ad campaign.

Article: “The Year of the Widget?” by Brian Braiker of Newsweek. Describes the recent explosion of widgets as a means of creating a personalized web experience by centralizing content on a desktop or website, as evidenced by the growing trend among well established media outlets such as The New York Times, ESPN and The Wall Street Journal to allow customized personal views of their homepages. Also discusses the incorporation of “gadget” applications into 2007’s major operating system releases, Mac OS X Leopard and Microsoft Windows Vista, and the possible opportunities for advertisers to capitalize on this trend.