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CPG Blog Review: Google Gadgets

In the last six to seven months, there's been a resurgent interest in customizing one's personal space.
Whether that personal space is public ( MySpace page, Blog or homepage ) or private ( computer desktop, Google Personalized homepage, mobile phone )
many people are using widgets or gadgets to customize, embellish, differentiate and engage.

Gadgets or widgets are merely mini applications that live in personalized environment.

Newsweek writes " User-generated content was a hallmark of 2006. It's a fair bet that 2007 will be all about further customizing your online life."

Using gadgets is a great platform for your marketing initiatives.

Use gadgets to

* create another channel to engage current and new customers
* introduce new products
* provide opportunities for brand consideration
* drive sales of your product online and offline
* reach a broader audience
* allow for an ongoing brand presence
* provide product feedback and updates


Google Gadgets is one of Google's fastest growing products.
It's easy to create a Google Gadget. If you can create a website, you can create a gadget.
You can place Google Gadgets on a Google Personalized Home Page, the Google Desktop , blogs and other websites. Another nice feature of Google Gadgets is that you can use
existing data inputs like RSS feeds and other services ( YouTube, Google Videos, Google Custom Search Engine, Google Spreadsheets, Google Maps, Yahoo traffic service,
weather service data ) to create interesting and engaging gadgets.



Here's an example Recipe gadget that uses a cooking video from Google Video




More information on Google Gadgets can be found at http://www.google.com/apis/gadgets/index.html