I’ve been pitched story ideas on about 100 different widgets in the last six months. This widget does that. That widget does this. Rarely do I write about them because few of them do anything different. It’s just the same crap in different mascara. Besides, I’m starting to grow tired of the word, “widget.”
However, I found one that not only has a very cool concept, but that launches today on the websites of — get this — mainstream businesses that are pushing third-party content they do not control to their customers, all in the name of a more enriching website experience. (My first question to Susan Bratton, president of Personal Life Media who pitched the idea to me, was, “Can I have your clients have a word or two with some of Doe-Anderson’s clients? Please?)
[flickr style="float: right"]photo:177117996[/flickr]Ask most social media experts and a common prediction for the future of the web bubbles to the top. The next big thing is commonly thought to be video podcasting, v-logging or Web-TV. Call it whatever you want, but web video is on the rise, and for a variety of reasons. First, the medium of video offers a level of engagement far more compelling that just audio or text. Aside from stimulating more of our senses, the barrier to entry for web video is at an all-time low.