The first step is connecting your Widgetbox account with Facebook (read why and how).

Once your Widgetbox account is connected with Facebook, sharing and promoting is simple and effective. There are two primary options:

Share Through the Get Widget Menu

Whether you created the widget or you just grabbed and embedded it, sharing the widget on Facebook is a powerful way to tell friends (either about the widget itself or where you have placed it!). Once you grab the code via the Get Widget menu, you will now see a link to “Share on Facebook”:

By clicking the Share button, you will be prompted with a Facebook Connect window that includes the widget name, description, logo and link. Before publishing, you will also be allowed to write an additional caption for your Facebook Feed. You can choose not to write additional content and simply press Publish – or, you can also choose to write something additional and it will be included in your Facebook post (but not on Widgetbox):

When published, it will appear in your Facebook feed and be available to your friends (and their friends!)… opening it to thousands of additional viewers and subscribers.

Use Facebook Share

Another method of posting on Facebook is to use the the new “Share on Facebook” button that is now available on every widget details page (directly beneath the widget). Using the Share button does not require users to use Facebook Connect.

Once clicked, you will receive a Facebook window allows you to either ‘Post to Profile’ (in other words the Facebook Feed) or ‘Send a Message’ directly to your Facebook friends (via Facebook mail). In either option, you will be able to include an additional message or publish directly:

If you have chosen to share via the feed it will look similar to the below:
- my message
- the widget icon / logo
- the widget name and details
- the ability for friends to comment, like and share

Excitingly, if the widget is flash-compatible, you will notice a blue play button. When clicked, the widget that expands ands plays directly in the Facebook feed!

…. But two weeks later, we are proud to announce a new number: 60,000,000 (or 60.6 to be exact!). Just a few days have passed and our network has grown significantly:

Of course, we encourage you to take advantage of our network by making widgets, creating Custom Galleries, and using Widgetbox as a distribution platform!

According to Lehman Brothers, the top ten web properties account for only 28.2% of page views and yet 76.4% of ad revenues.

What is going on? Why the massive discrepancy, 2.7x, between usage and spend?  Today, autos.yahoo.com is qualified, targeted traffic. Advertisers can buy a single property and realize the efficiencies that come from working with a single source of relevant inventory.  The long-tail, however, continues to grow in size and significance and users are migrating away from company-owned content sites to community-centered sites where the users are the experts, the product managers, and the editorialists. Today, the long-tail suffers from limited targeting, URL whitelist/black list issues, analytics, and other frictions that limit the accessibility and the economic value of Third Place inventory.

However, one thing is clear. Buying the big ten is no longer a viable approach to on-line advertising campaigns and programs.

To understand the power of the distributed web, I think it is helpful to visit one of Ray Oldenberg’s ideas, the Third Place. Wikipedia defines the Third Place as, “social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace.” Examples in the physical world include the gym and Starbucks. Wikipedia goes onto to say,”… Ray Oldenburg argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place. Oldenburg calls one’s “first place” the home and those that one lives with. The “second place” is the workplace — where people may actually spend most of their time. Third places, then, are “anchors” of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction.”

People share a need for a Third Place – an anchor in their lives and a facilitator of identity, dialogue, and meaning. The social web understood this need and provided the on-line equivalent to coffee hour, bridge club, etc. As in the real world, where community anchors number in the millions are segment by location, age, interest, gender, religion, etc. the web is becoming a mosaic of Third Places, or grass-roots communities.

Web 2.0 is very much about community and the last few year’s witnessed the rise of anchor companies such as Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, and others that are siphoning traffic away from more traditional web leaders.  Blogging platforms and web site builders, such as Blogger, Ning, and Synthasite are allowing users to create their own Third Place on-line – places where users interact, express, and participate.

Today, the long-tail represents 71.8% of page views.  As technology platforms further allow for user-control and collaboration, this number can only grow. Widgetbox’s technology furthers the atomization of the web and allows users to take the best of the web and consume it in a Third Place of their choosing. 

We are working to help people realize their need for community, shared identity, and to allow them to meet their Third Place needs without sacrificing access to content, applications, and services.

In addition, we are working to help eliminate the very real frictions that limit the long-tail’s share of ad spend to only 23.6%.

Oldenburg’s idea is a powerful one. The framework helps me better understand the rise of social media and underscores why advertisers and big brands must learn to invest in and not against the trend.